The Traitors
by webofdreams89
Summary: One small change in the course of their history will change everything. Discontinued.
1. Prologue: Ethan

**Author's Note: I will be revising my story because there are many typos and errors that greatly detract from it. thanks to all those who encouraged me to revise it and and to those who have reviewed my story.**

Prologue: Ethan

I couldn't think. It was like my mind went blank, filled with only a huge void of nothingness. The pain in my heart soon filled the void. The reality of what I had just witnessed sunk in and hit me hard in the gut. Dead. Rochelle was dead. My new girlfriend, my soul mate, my one true love of only five minutes was dead. How could she be dead! I asked myself.

We were just kissing and then suddenly Marduke was there and then she was dead. Dead like Sera, just like my beautiful sister. Why, God, why? Why did you take her? She wasn't ready to die, she was too young! Only seventeen years young.

Isabel, I thought, you're a healer. Can you heal my broken heart? Can you make all of the pain go away? 'Cause I can't live like this. It feels like half of myself is gone. How can I live with only half a body, half a heart, half a soul?

I can't. I got to end it now. The pain isn't going to get better. As the years wear on, the pain will only increase. Soon, I'll be forgetting the small details about her, like how she smelled and what she tasted like when I kissed her for the first and last time. And that is a pain far too unbearable for me.

Slowly, I began to retrace my steps to the cliff where Rochelle and I kissed. It took a lot less time to get there than I thought it would. I just figured that my sense of time was off. I mean, how can I be thinking normally when my soul mate has been murdered right before my eyes?

I was going to end it. I was going to end my life then. I looked down the cliff. It was a sheer drop straight down a couple hundred feet of so. Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to jump. But just as I was about to take the leap of destiny, I felt a hand grip my arm and pull me away.

"Ethan, stop!" The voice sounded alarmed, female. Wait, my brain processed. I knew that voice.


	2. 1: Ethan

Chapter 1- Ethan

"Rochelle!" But how could it be? Rochelle was dead. I watched her die in my arms. I heard her last words and felt her last breath. How could she be alive?

I felt her (someone) pull me back away from the cliff. That person wrapped their arms around my stomach lovingly, gently rubbing my belly in a caring way. I looked down at those hands and I felt the heat generate from them. The heat grew and grew until it was scalding my skin. "Ow!" I cried.

"Oh Ethan. What were you doing? Why were you so close to the cliff? It looked like you were about to jump," I heard the sweet voice say, so filled with concern. It was Rochelle's voice, I just knew it. Slowly I turned around, and sure enough, it was Rochelle's face too. Her vivid green eyes glazed over with tears and her silky dark hair blowing in the breeze. It _was_ Rochelle! My hand cupped her cheek as I pulled her towards my for a long kiss.

"But...but...how?" I sputtered, as I pulled away. Her face grew into a look of pure confusion. I decided to elaborate. "But ... Rochelle. You're dead!"

"Ethan, what are you talking about?"

"I watched you die Rochelle! I saw you die in my arms!" I screamed, my voice growing frantic.

"Nothing happened to me, Ethan. Come now, tell me what you saw," she said leading us away from the cliff and to a large rock to sit on. I began to tell her about our kiss and Marduke and the arrow. I told her about how she died saving me and about how I carried her body back to the others and about Marduke's body turning into a stone statue a dusk. She just shook her head and said, "No, Ethan."

"Ethan, you were right about the first part. You did come back to me and we did kiss. And boy, was it a nice kiss! But Marduke never came and never shot me. I didn't die Ethan. What happened was we were kissing one minute and you just went limp in my arms. I guess you passed out or something. I laid you gently on the ground and went and got Arkarian. He came and looked at you, nodded, and said he'd be back. Ethan, you were knocked out for at least an hour. And then you just stood up and walked over to the cliff when I was talking to lsabel. She ran to get Arkarian and Matt. I heard you keep saying something about she's gone and she's never coming back. It looked like you were crying too. I think you were about to jump when I pulled you away from the cliff."

I just stared at her and said, "So you're not dead?"

She laughed. "No, silly, and thank the gods that you're not either."

"But I don't understand," I replied, at a loss for words.

"Neither do I," she said with a radiant, not dead, smile that lit up her entire face. So beautiful. "But let us walk back to the others now anyway. They'll be worried," she said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction of the others. I could see that there were no longer sparks flying from her hands. Pride flooded me just knowing she was already learning to control her powers.

"Ethan! You're all right!" I heard Isabel shriek as we passed into the clearing, throwing her arms around me. Rochelle chuckled at my side.

I saw Arkarian stride toward us, closely followed by Matt, Neriah, Dad, Jimmy, and Dillon. "Arkarian, what's going on-" I asked, getting cut off.

He quickly turned his head toward Dillon and said, "Dillon, would you go and start gathering up hostages. It would be a big help."

"Yeah, sure," he replied, giving me a strange look as he turned to do his task.

I turned back towards Arkarian. He gave me a smile and asked for me to retell what exactly had happened. I started at the beginning, leaving out some of details of Rochelle and my kiss but not the rest of it. He then asked Rochelle for her account of what happened. Arkarian mulled everything over for a minute and then turned towards Matt. I could tell that they were communicating with their thought reading powers. I saw Rochelle's eyes grow big at whatever they were saying.

"Well, Ethan," Arkarian began. "I believe that you have just started developing your forth talent."

The rest of our jaws drop. "What?"

"Yes, I believe that you are developing the ability to implant memories or suggestions into peoples' minds. This is an extremely rare ability and I believe that it is a growth on your animation abilities. Few have this gift and it is difficult to master. But with you level of skill, I don't think that it will be nearly as difficult for you to do. This ability is often used to play off our worst fears, and in this case, you played off your own fears. It can also be used to change the way people remember events. Ah, yes," he finished, "I think that this talent will be essential to the future of the Guard."

Isabel squealed again, punching me playfully in the arm and saying, "Awe, you lucky old dog. Rochelle's smile was bright and pride shone in Dad's eyes, along with Arkarian's.

Why don't you try it again?" Arkarian asked me. "It will help you develop your ability faster."

"Well, okay," I replied. How exactly should I go about this? Hmm. The perfect image popped into my head. I conjured it in my mind and mentally sent it to everyone in the group.

"Hey!" Isabel exclaimed. Everyone laughed, Matt and Arkarian the hardest. I had sent a picture of Isabel at the age of ten in dirty denim cutoffs and a once-yellow tank top. Her hair was in a sloppy ponytail and her face was streaked with dirt. The little monkey I remember.

"Okay, then," Arkarian said. "I want the younger members of the Guard to go home now. That means Ethan, Rochelle, Isabel, Neriah, and Dillon (who had returned by now). Matt, we'll need you for a little while longer."

Isabel and Neriah said (and kissed) good-bye to their significant others as I said good-bye to Dad. The five of us left the battlegrounds, all laughing and chatting with overwhelming happiness, just knowing that the war was over. It was a good feeling. Only Dillon seemed upset over anything, muttering something about not being included in important Guard discussions. Soon, though, he turned away from the group to go home. We reached Isabel's house next.

"Hey Rochelle, Neriah, do you guys want to spend the night?" Isabel asked. Rochelle's eyes lit up with happiness at finally being included in something. I knew that it was something that bothered her, not being included in the past. "Of course, you can stay the night with Matt, if you want Ethan."

"I'd like to but I think Dad will want to talk to me when he gets home," I said with some sadness. It meant being separated from Rochelle, which seemed unbearable in light of what I just went through. We kissed good-bye, then just holding each other for a moment. I pulled away a little so I could look into her radiant eyes and said, "I love you, Rochelle, so much. And I will miss you all night long, dreaming about only you. I'll be here to see you tomorrow. Probably early."

This made her smile and say, "I love you, too, Ethan. And I can't wait until you come tomorrow. But don't worry. I'll be awake no matter how early you come. You'll never leave my thought."

I said good-bye to Neriah and lsabel and turned to leave. I knew that I wouldn't sleep that night, but I didn't care.


	3. 2: Ethan

Chapter 2: Ethan

That morning, I hurried up and got dressed as quickly as I possibly could. I had to see Rochelle again. I mean everything that happened the day before had completely frazzled my brain. One minute we were kissing and then Marduke comes along and kills her, only she turns out to _not_ be dead. It had my head spinning. I practically ran the entire way to Isabel's. Before I knocked on the door, I smoothed down my hair that had probably gotten tangled in the wind. The door opened a minute later with Neriah standing there. Her cheeks were pink and she looked like she had been laughing.

"Thank gosh it's you Ethan!" she exclaims, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the house.

"Ethan! Just the boy I wanted to see!" Isabel shouts loudly, joining me on my other side.

"What's going on?" I asked, puzzled by their behavior (well not so much by Isabel's behavior, but Neriah had surprised me a little.)

"Oh we little girls need you big strong man to do us a big favor, that's all," Isabel replies. Little girls, HA! These 'little girls' had powers that the rest of the world could never even dream of having. These 'little girls' had helped defeat the Order of Chaos.

I heard Rochelle laugh, obviously having read my thoughts. "I'm sorry Ethan, I really didn't mean to read your thoughts, but you were practically blasting them," she said, stepping into the living room. Her long, dark hair was tied back in a white silk ribbon that really complemented just how beautiful her hair really was. At that thought, Rochelle blushed and Neriah giggled.

"Ethan! You two can play soul mate later. Right now we have a crisis on our hands!" Isabel screeched.

Just realizing, I ask, "Where's Matt?"

"Matt _is_ the problem!" Neriah said loudly.

"Yes he is. We want you to go in there and wake him up. None of us dainty females want to brave the cave of the snoring t-rex! I only go into that mess when ever I absolutely have too."

"You should have heard him Ethan! All night long, he practically shook the hole house with his snoring," Neriah exclaimed her eyes wide.

"Neriah, I don't know how you're going to take spending all of eternity in the same bed as him if you can't even sleep in a different room from him and make it through the night," I quipped. A deep blush spread over Neriah's cheeks and Isabel and Rochelle cackled with laughter.

"Would you just go in there and wake him up?" Neriah asked, embarrassed.

"Of course I will. But only for you dainty females," I said as I walked towards the hallway. Isabel threw a couch pillow at the back of my head.

I soon discovered that they were right when they said he sounded like a t-rex. With his door closed, I could plainly hear his loud snoring. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and walked in. Matt was lying on his stomach with his mouth hanging open, drooling slightly. I could see that he was wearing a pair of boxers and a white T-shirt with a blanket wrapped around him as if he had been moving around a lot during the night. Matt was never a light sleeper. The mess of a room didn't surprise me however. Matt and I used to be best friends for many years and I had spent countless night sleeping on the cot he kept in the closet to avoid the sadness at home. Clothes were strewn everywhere imaginable. There was even a T-shirt on the overhead fan that was revolving on the slow setting. Dirty dishes encrusted with old food (some of it moldy) were scattered on the floor beside his bed and on the nightstand.

The state of his room didn't shock me but did disgust me. With my mind, I levitated all of his dirty clothes into the hamper, sent all of the paper plates and cups and trash into the trash can that was tipped over on it's side and wiped all of the dirty dishes clean, sending the moldy food right into his trash. I righted all of the turned over furniture (don't ask) and dusted everywhere with my mind. Once I had his room in order, I flicked open the curtains with a wave of my fingers. Matt groaned in his sleep and rolled over, turning his back to the open window. I walked up to his bed and yanked the blanket off of him, yet still he slept on. I conjured up a bowl of vinegar right under his nose (which actually smelled better than Matt's room before I cleaned it) It didn't even phase him.

Hmm, what's the best way to wake him up? And then it hit me. I remembered that he could never sleep through thunderstorms as a kid, so why should now be any different? In my head, I envisioned a mini storm right over Matt's head. The clouds were a dark gray and the sky was a deep, almost black, blue. Then I imagined a huge rumble of thunder, so loud it shook the house slightly.

In an instant, Matt sat up. Only he sat up so fast, he fell right off of his bed! I laughed so hard, my ribs hurt.

"Hey, what happened to all of the cushioning?" he groaned, standing and looking up. He shivered violently, telling me that he still hated storms. I waved the storm away. "What happened to my room?" he asked, looking around.

"I cleaned it for you," I replied.

"You always were a neat freak."

"And you were always a hog."

"You're right about that," he said, grinning. I had finally surpassed him in height, now about two or so inches taller. It was king of nice being looked up to.

"Did you use magic?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, I did."

"Well, at least I know why you always had such a clean room as a kid. Even when you're room was dirty, it always took you about five minutes to clean."

"Actually, it took about only a minute to clean, I just sat there for a minute so it looked like it took a little longer," I replied. Both of us laughing, it was starting to feel like old times. I think Matt sensed it too.

"Look Ethan, I'm-" he began, but I cut him off.

"Matt, there's no need to apologize. It's all in the past now."

"But-"

"No, man. I forgive, if that's what you want to hear. But there isn't any need to apologize, really. It took two people to break up our friendship. You_ and_ me. It's all over with." I didn't want him to apologize to me. We were friends again and that's all that mattered.

"Okay," Matt said with a smile.

"Aww! I wonder if they're going to hug now?" Isabel said from the doorway.

"Isabel!" both Matt and I yelled. Yep, it was truly starting to feel like old times.

"Well, you'd better get dressed. We still have that meeting to go to," I said, turning and leaving.

The girls were all ready dressed and ready to go. We all started walking, but I grabbed Rochelle's hand, stopping her. Isabel and Neriah kept walking. "Hey you," I said to her.

"Hey you," she replied. I leaned down to give her a kiss. She kissed me back. It was really nice until Matt came out of his room and quipped, "This isn't a brothel you know."

"Very funny, wise guy," I replied. He stopped and turned around, looking at me for a moment. Wise guy was what I always used to call him when we were kids. He smiled and grabbed Neriah's hand.

When we finally got to Arkarian's cave, Dad, Dillon, Jimmy, and Arkarian were all there all ready. Isabel took a seat next to Arkarian and he put his arm around her. I saw Matt tense up for just a moment, but then it passed. He was still getting used to the idea of his little sister dating her soul mate.

"Okay, let's get down to business," Arkarian began. "Although Lorian and Lathania are both dead, the war is not over. Marduke is still out there and is potentially a god himself, him being Lathania's soul mate; she could have given him that power. Keziah is still out there as well. Even though their queen is dead, the Order still has plenty of followers out there that will want revenge. We being the Guard, it is our job-" Arkarian said, cutting off.

Next to him, Isabel was convulsing heavily, shaking so hard she would have fallen out of her chair if Arkarian hadn't caught her.

"What's going on?" someone asked.

"She's having a vision," I replied quietly.

Finally after a minute or so, Isabel calmed down and regained consciousness. "I-she-said-" she sputtered.

"It's okay, Isabel. Tell us when you're ready," Arkarian said. She nodded her head.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "She want's us to rescue her."

"Who does?" I asked.

"The daughter of Chaos."


	4. 3: Alessia

Chapter 3: Alessia

Ever since I could remember, I was locked away in this prison. Well, that's not completely accurate. I remember back when I was still inside my mother's stomach, still forming into a baby. I remember my birth and my mother's cries of pain. I remember my father picking me up and holding me and then dropping me on the ground like I was a piece of trash.

He screamed to my mother that I had "good in my eyes," and could never be a part of the Order. Next came my mother's cries of agony, far greater than the ones of my birth. No, this time she was crying because she had a good baby. How can the Goddess of Chaos give birth to a good baby? she screamed. I can remember wondering what exactly a good baby was and what was wrong with me.

Even then, I sensed something evil about my parents the same way they sensed good about me. I despised them from the day of my birth, my own parents who I should have loved more than anything. I could tell they were different from me, thought differently than I did.

Until I was about four years old, I lived with my mother in a huge castle. She tried everything to make me evil, but nothing worked. She would torture animals in front of my and even killed a man in front of me once. I still hear his screams of agony in my dreams at night, making my blood run cold. This was back before I could cover up my thoughts. I remember Mother's look of pure disgust when she looked at me. I was an avid reader and in all of the stories I read, the parents always loved their little girl, lavishing hugs and kisses on her and spoiling her rotten with gifts. My parents had never given me anything.

Father would visit me as frequently as he could, he said. I knew that he was double-crossing someone, but then I didn't know whom. As my powers grew older, my powers grew stronger and stronger. One day, a day that Mother actually permitted me to go outside to play in the courtyard (only because it was cloudy), she had her back turned and I decided to escape. I was four by then and learned to mask my thoughts. She was convinced that I didn't know how to because I would randomly let fake thoughts slip through so she wouldn't know. So that day she was unable to know what I was planning.

I mastered the power of transforming myself into animals already and particularly liked the butterfly form I had seen in some of my books. I transformed myself into a butterfly, beautiful, in every color of the rainbow, and proceeded to fly away. My bad luck was that Mother chose that exact moment to turn around. I was about ten feet in the air then when she turned around. She shrieked in horror and shot a bolt of lightening out of her finger. It shot at me and enveloped me in a huge bubble. My shock caused me to turn back into my human form. I had to float in the center of the bubble for days because of the lightning coursing through the bubble.

I must have dozed off at one point because when I woke up, I was in a dark and dreary room with dim lights and cold breeze. On the floor was a strange circular pattern, the color of blood. I could tell that I was lying on the floor and when I looked up, Mother, Father, and an old wizard I knew at Keziah were standing there facing me.

"Now you are trapped, my darling daughter, and shall never get out of here," Mother screeched, her beautiful face contorted in a hideous grin. Her cackle radiated through the room. "No one will ever find you here. You are the only resident of this world and you have no way to communicate with the other worlds. Your powers will fade and you shall too with each passing day. You will go mad in this lonely world and will perhaps kill yourself as well.

"This will only come to be if you keep up this heinous behavior, my dear, sweet daughter," Mother said in a calm voice. Father just gave me a look that told me he believed that I would never be like them. In all honestly, I didn't.

"Mother, it is your behavior that is most heinous, not mine. I am good and shall never be like you," I spat back at her in all my four years.

"So be it."

Then the three of them began a chant that I immediately memorized and carved into the stone wall as soon as they left. It was: bezt ku etu, misaf gurst wexc, ki du tre mestr. From all of the reading I had done up until my imprisonment, I could tell that it was from the ancient elvish language that was only still used by the truly ancient who still remembered it or those it was taught to. I had known idea as to what it meant but I knew that is was of the utmost importance that I remember it for my escape.

"Daughter, on the first of each year, we shall come back here to see if you have changed your mind. Until then, you will stay here."

Then my so-called parents and the despicable wizard melted into the pattern on the floor somehow. I figured that it was a portal of some kind. I then decided to explore my new "home." I saw a door on the far side of the room and walked towards it. It was unlocked, which wasn't surprising since I was the only one who lived on this world. Opening the door, I could see a long, dreary hallway with only one other door, clear across the other side of the room. It was a terribly long hallway for a four-year-old, even if that four-year-old happened to be a goddess so I transformed into an eagle and flew across the room in no time flat.

When I reached the door, I transformed back and opened it. There was a staircase, which I quickly descended and found myself outside. Not surprisingly, outside was bright and sunny and a perfect temperature. There were no clouds in the sky. Off in the far distance, with my super-magnified sight, I could see the planet Earth. Earth had always fascinated me. I had never seen any normal people, only my father and Mother's minions running about (most of them weren't even human). I longed to meet people as well, people whom thought like me and believed in good. That was truly my dream.

Off in the distance a little, I could see three large orbs. When I got closer, I could see that they were three different colors, light pink, light blue, and light green. Immediately, I knew that they the orbs of past, present, and future that I always heard mother talking about. Why in all the worlds would she leave them here with me? I thought. And then it hit me. She wanted me to long for earth, long for a home, and be miserable. I wasn't going to let her do that to me though.

Over the next few years, I watched my Mother's evil group, called the Order, battle the good, and called the Guard. I watched them battle in the past, when the Guard won, I cheered, but when they lost, I weeped. I knew they were the ones who would help me leave this retched world. I watched the Guard grow and fall. I saw my father's face get cut in two and I saw a young girl murdered by my father. Then I really cried had for the little girl and her little brother that had to watch. I watched the little boy grow with his friends. I watched my man who I knew was my cousin, Arkarian teach the little boy and I saw my other cousin in agony when his friendship with the boy fell apart. I saw my father die and become restored by my mother, although he was never the same again, far more animal-like. I watched them all grow and fall in love. But most of all, I watched my younger sister Neriah. She was such a beautiful child. How I longed to go and play with her and teach her the things a big sister should be able to teach their little sister. But I couldn't.

Each passing year, Mother and Father came and asked if I would join them, but I never did. I held strong, grew off of my loneliness in a way Mother could never even dream of. I used it to make me stronger and more powerful. I tried over and over again to send a vision to the one that loved my cousin, Isabel, but I failed in each attempt. Mother was stopping it from happening, I knew.

And then one day, I saw Mother die. I know children are supposed to weep at the demise of their parents, but I didn't. I rejoiced that the evil woman who made me was finally gone and I might, just might, leave this horrid world after all.

The day after Mother's death, a vision finally went through and reached Isabel. I knew they would come for me.


	5. 4: Ethan

Chapter 4: Ethan

"What!" I exclaimed. "The daughter of Chaos? Lathania doesn't have a daughter, does she?"

"She has to," Isabel whispered breathlessly. "She talked to me. She told me all about herself and where she's at."

"But I don't understand," Dillon mutters.

"Isabel, why don't you take a minute and rest. Then you can tell us everything you saw." Arkarian said sensibly. She nodded. All of us reclaimed our seats that we had leapt from when she started convulsing. She reclaimed her seat next to Arkarian and took a deep breath. He wrapped his arm around her and smiled encouragingly. I glanced at Rochelle to see if she was okay. She appeared shaken. I reached for her hand and placed it in mine. A pleasantly warm heat was emanating from it, not scorching like they can be.

"Okay," Isabel began. "She told me that her name is Alessia and her mother is, I mean was, Lathania. She showed me flashbacks of her past, when she was little how her mother despised her and when she was locked up in a dreary world to live by herself for the past sixteen years. From what I could gather, she's about twenty years old and has been watching us for a long time, studying the Guard. Lathania locked her up because she was born 'good,' and had kept her there ever since. She has been trying to get in contact with the Guard for some time now and has just now succeeded. You see, in her world, there are three orbs, of the past, present, and future similar to the one Arkarian has. Only now, that her mother is dead, has she been able to get in contact with us, via me. She thinks that Keziah and Lathania were using their powers to keep her there. And now that Lathania is dead, she wants us to come and rescue her."

Everyone sat as still as stone for at least five minutes, digesting Isabel's words. Finally, Matt looked up at Isabel and asked, "Do you believe that she is sincere?"

With tears shimmering in Isabel's eyes, she replied, "Yes, I do. None of saw the way her parents treated her. They tried everything they could do to corrupt her but nothing worked. Lathania even visited her once a year to see if would join the Order, because only then she would be let out, but each time she refused. Alessia refused for sixteen years because she believe that we wouldn't fail her."

Matt nodded and said, "That's good enough for me." Having Matt's approval was good enough for the group.

Arkarian grinned at Matt and said, "You know what this means, don't you? We have another cousin."

"Yeah, we do," Matt said, returning the smile. Matt's and Arkarian's relationship has greatly grown within the past few weeks and he wasn't nearly as overprotective of Isabel now either, knowing that Arkarian's love for her was sincere.

All the while, Neriah sat silently, staring at the stone floor. Matt noticed and asked, "What's wrong, love?"

Finally Neriah looked up at Isabel and asked, "Who is the father of Alessia?"

Isabel sat there for a moment, contemplating whether or not she should tell Neriah the truth. "Marduke," she said barely above a whisper.

"I have a sister," she replied, grinning. "All my life, I wanted a sibling, and now I have one. Matt, it's funny. My sister is your cousin." Everyone laughed.

Arkarian, turning serious, said, "Okay everyone, we have to decide on what we should do."

Neriah looked at him incredously. "We have to rescue my sister," she replied without a beat.

"Yes, but how do we go about it?" he asked. "Isabel said that Alessia lives on _another planet._ We have no way of knowing which planet. And now with Lathania gone, Marduke is going to want his daughter on his side more than ever. We have to find a way to get her from her prison without detecting Marduke's attention. I'm almost positive that he is a god."

I said, finally speaking up, "Alessia live at Lathania's castle before she was sent away, right Isabel." She nodded. "So the first place I think we should look would be at the castle. There has to some kind of portal or something we can use to get there."

"Oh, I just remembered! There is some kind of portal thing I saw in my vision that she showed me along with a chant. The pattern was a big circle with criss-crossing bars going through it with little stars inside of it, the color of blood. I'm trying to remember the chant. It wasn't in any language I have ever seen before." She sat there thinking, trying to remember the chant. "Oh, I know. Bezt ku eu. Misaf gurst wazc. Ki du tre mestr. That's it."

"Hmm. It sounds like ancient elvish to me," dad said. I know he used to study the old texts before he quit the Guard when Sera was murdered.

"Shaun, let's go get some of the old texts from one of these rooms." The two of them left and returned shortly with several books each.

"Okay, Isabel, write down that chant so some of us can begin looking for the phrase. Those of us that are looking for the symbol, bring anything that is remotely close to what Isabel described to her so she can look at it."

We all set to work looking the chant and symbol. I poured over several books of text, not finding anything. Dad and Arkarian went back several times to get more books. I had a feeling that they didn't want anyone else to know about the room that they were going to. We all worked for hours, searching. Finally, Isabel found the symbol. We all looked at it in wonder. The text under the picture said that it was an ancient portal symbol, strongly focusing on power containment. In it's day, it was the most powerful means of containing power.

Half an hour or so later, I found the phrase. In the elven languages, words never usually mean the same thing twice. They had this means of language to prevent others from knowing what they were saying and being condemned to. It translated to: "Come, ye, and open my door. Unleash this good and bring forth a new dynasty."

"Well, the words are saying that we will bring something good into the world. That has to count for something, doesn't it?" Rochelle asked me quietly. "It has to," I replied. The next day, we all were to set out for Lathania's castle.

Author's Notes: I hope that everyone is enjoying the story so far. I admit, this chapter was kind of slow, but the next one will be more exciting, I promise.


	6. 5: Ethan

Chapter 5: Ethan

It was decided. Matt, Arkarian, Rochelle, Neriah, Isabel and I were all chosen to go retrieve Alessia, Daughter of Chaos. Dillon was extremely upset when he found out that he was chosen _not _to go. He threw a horrible fit, yelling and screaming at Matt and Arkarian, demanding to be able to go.

"Obviously you aren't even mature enough to handle going, throwing a fit like you are," Rochelle yelled back at him, matter-of-factly. I could tell that his thoughts were hammering into her brain.

"To hell with you, Rochelle!" he screamed back at her, getting within inches of her face.

I joined in immediately, getting right back into his face. "Don't you ever yell at Rochelle again, Dillon. Or I swear to God I will rip your face off!"

"Don't mess with me, Ethan," he answered in a deadly, yet somehow calm, voice.

"Don't mess with Rochelle," I repeated, just as menacingly.

Rochelle grabbed my arm, pulling me back away from him. "Come on, Ethan. Let's just leave him alone."

He sneered back at us. "Jeez Ethan! She already has you whipped!"

And then I jumped him.

I only got in one good punch, though, right in the nose, before Matt pulled me away from him. A sickening crack filled the room. Dillon just stood there, stunned, as Isabel rushed to his side to heal it. Within seconds, his nose was as good as new.

As he stared at me with a blank look in his eyes, I fully realized what I had just done. "Oh God, Dillon! I am so sorry!" I said as he walked out of Arkarian's chambers, saying, "I know, Ethan, I know."

I did this to Dillon, I thought. Dillon who had been my friend ever since we were kids. Dillon who was still my friend, even when Matt had left my side for Rochelle.

"Damn it!" I screamed, conjuring up a baseball with my mind and sending it flying into a wall. After the ball made contact, it vanished.

"It's okay, Ethan," Rochelle whispered in my ear, wrapping her arms around me. I hugged her back, releasing a deep breath.

"Well, we should get going," Arkarian said after a moment, giving me time to cool down. I nodded. I quickly forgot my fight with Dillon; the upcoming mission took dominant control in my mind.

When the others headed outside, Dad pulled me aside. "Be safe, son," he said, hugging me.

"I will, Dad," I replied. Dad and Jimmy were staying behind to monitor the past from Arkarian's chambers.

I then hurried to join the others outside. Once I caught up, I grabbed Rochelle's hand, which I raised to my lips and kissed. She giggled. Isabel rolled her eyes.

"Okay everyone," Arkarian began when we reached the clearing. "Let's form a circle by taking hands. Tightly," he added.

"What about forming the pentagon or whatever, like we did last time?" Isabel asked.

"Not needed. We have Matt and Neriah," Arkarian replied simply. "Matt, do you know what to do?"

Matt merely nodded. "Here goes nothing." He closed his eyes slowly once and then reopened them. He looked up and concentrated on a single point in the sky. Ever slowly, the spot in the sky began opening into a rift, getting wider as time passed. A whirling black funnel quickly descended toward the ground, and headed right for us. It was a little intimidating to watch.

"Hold tight to each other!" Akarian yelled above the wind. I felt Rochelle's and Neriah's hands grip mine even tighter.

All at once, the funnel engulfed us, dragging us up as ring of dark, whirling mass. I felt myself be lifted and begin to spin faster and faster as we ascended. I lost all sense of direction, and at that point, could hardly tell my foot from my face. Then I could feel us falling rapidly.

"Ethan! Conjure something!" someone yelled as we fell. I hurriedly thought of a giant bubble enveloping us all. Our descend slowed and we gently drifted down. The bubble popped as it touched the ground and we all dropped the last four feet or so.

"Ouch!" Rochelle yelled from my side.

"What is it?" I asked, kneeling at her side, taking her hand.

"I landed wrong and I think I sprained my ankle," she said quietly. Isabel rushed to her side and quickly healed her ankle.

"Better?" I asked her, gently cupping her face with my hands. I leaned in and kissed her beautiful lips, as gentle as a feather. She sighed contentedly.

"Okay guys," Matt said teasingly. "We should get going."

We walked for nearly an hour until Lathania's castle was in sight. We walked up to it with caution. It appeared deserted. Once we crossed the splintered threshold, desertion was evident. The inside of the castle was left in ruin; glass pieces and wooded splinters everywhere. We walked on until we saw the only room in the castle that could possibly be Lathania's. It was made entirely of diamonds; the bed, tables, even the portrait frames. Rochelle began using her hands to sense things from behind the wall.

All of a sudden, a man ran into the room, a long rusted dagger in his hand. He ran up behind Rochelle, his hand back, ready to strike. With blinding exactness, I drew an arrow, strung it in my bow, and released it. He tumbled to the ground, dead. Rochelle turned around in time to see him fall. I closed him in a conjured body bag and ran over to Rochelle, taking her in my arms. She trembled for a minute in my arms.

Slowly, she pulled back, looking into my eyes. She whispered, "Thank you."

Once she regained her composure, she said, "I found a hidden lever, deep in the wall. I'm afraid to touch it. I think only a god can touch it."

Matt stepped foreword, and put his hand on the wall where Rochelle directed. He pushed foreword, his hand sinking into the wall. When he reached the lever, a blue light shone and a portion of the crystal floor slide open, a staircase leading down.

Matt gazed at the stair case, curious, and quickly descended it. We all followed him, just as curious. The stairs led to a stone dungeon.

"That's the pattern from my vision," Isabel whispered, pointing at the floor. Indeed, it was.

"We're not all going," Arkarian announced.

"Just Arkarian and I," Matt said.

"No! I'm going to! She's my sister," Neriah said stepping foreword.

"Okay," Matt said softly, smiling.

The three joined hands and stepped onto the floor pattern, and recited the elvish words from Isabel's vision. In the blink of an eye, in a flash of blinding light, they were gone.


	7. 6: Gabriol

Chapter 6: Gabriol

Ever since I can remember, I was "cursed." My parents died in a car accident when I was only three months old and my Uncle Pete soon adopted me. He died shortly after. All these deaths surrounding my young self weren't even the reason I was cursed at all. No, the reason I was dubbed cursed was because I could still talk to my parents and my uncle _after_ they had died.

After Uncle Pete died, I moved in with my dad's mother. She never let me call her grandmother, however, because she knew right away that I was different, that I could talk to spirits. She always said that no relation to her was so strange, couldn't be if they were related to the _great Catherine Lark,_ Christian extrordinare. Nope, she was a good, God-fearing Christian woman and no way was she having a 'spirit talker' (as she always called me) for a grandson. Growing up, I was incredibly self-conscious about myself; just knowing that I was different gave me a complex of sorts. I know now that was how I was easy prey for someone like Lathania.

_My grandmother_ used to lock my in my bedroom for extended periods of time (and when I say extended, I mean extended), often for days and even weeks at a time. She tried to 'preach the devil out of me' as well, standing on the other side of my bedroom door, reading gargantious amounts of the bible to me. I had to pay strict attention as well; she would quiz me on it hours later and it would determine if I received supper that night or not. The nights that I actually did receive a supper, it was always too dry or too soggy or not even cooked at all. Once I remember receiving a pound of raw hamburger, it was horrible. Obviously, I was home schooled; _grandmother_ didn't want me to contaminate the other children with my cursedness. There was enough contaminated children in the world already without my adding to it, she always said.

My growing up without love was used to Lathania's advantage, especially because I had such and unusual gifts. Soon after my ability to talk to the dead came, so did the ability to become _invisible_ at will. Perfect for the lonely boy who received no love and wanted to hide. Perfect for the Goddess' Order.

Lathania took me under her wing and pretended to love me, to be the mother that I never had and always wanted. Granted, I was about seven at the time and easily conformable to her whims. It amazes me how I was so easily succumbed to her _charms, _and it certainly disgusts me now to say so now. Lathania is far from charming. And now she's dead.

When I turned the age of fourteen, Lathania took me to a place where she said I was to have a special job, and important job to the Order. I readily accepted her offer. By that time, my _grandmother _had already dropped me off at an orphanage just outside the city limits of Angel Falls, so I was really all alone.

This special job was to permanently live in _another world._ I was understandably excited; at that point, I would practically give anything to leave Earth where no one loved me. In this other world, I was to have only one chore, and that was to watch a girl. I knew that there must have been something special about this girl if she lived in another world all by herself. I questioned why, and Lathania told me it was because this girl was dangerous, under maximum security, so to speak. I readily agreed, I would do anything to pledge myself to Lathania's Order.

There were also two conditions as well, that I didn't even know about until I agreed to this task. One was to always remain invisible, never letting the girl see me, hear me, or feel me. This was to be even lonelier than what I had on Earth.

The other condition was to kill the girl if she ever tried to leave.

I thought nothing of it; who was this girl to me, except my job? I was to carry around this special dart with me always. She said that her magician and her dipped it into a special potion that would actually kill this girl on contact. Decades, she told me, was how long it took to brew, decades! She also put another curse on me, so to speak. If I ever saw the girl leaving the world, I would be forced by the power of the spell to throw the never-faltering dart at the girl. Little did I know then that that condition was the very one condition that would devastate me. I also didn't know that I could never change out of my invisible state as long as I was in that world.

I remember the day Lathania took me there so vividly, it could have been yesterday, for it was the first time I saw her. It was New Year's Day. Lathania told me exactly what I was supposed to do. We left through a strange red portal, her saying strange words. We arrived in a dark dungeon, dripping with sewagey moisture.

"Oh, daughter," Lathania cried, "where are you?" Daughter? I thought. I had no idea that I was going to watch Lathania's daughter. Who would lock up their own daughter? It made me think of my grandmother. Who would throw away their own grandchild?

Just then, out of the darkness, stepped an angel. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I could tell that she was near my own age. Her hair was a long, silky and beautiful red, blood, or possibly fire red. Lathania's own red hair looked scraggly in comparison to hers. Soft as feathers, it looked. Her skin was ivory, flawless. Her eyes were bright emeralds, making the real gemstones look shabby and cheap compared to the depth of green in this girl's eyes. How could a woman lock up a daughter this beautiful?

And then it hit me. Lathania had to be evil, jealous to lock up such a beautiful creature. She had to be jealous of her power and beauty. I mean, just looking at her, I could tell she was powerful, more powerful than anyone I had ever seen before. There was anger, loneliness, and defiance all swarming in the girl's eyes. But most of all, hatred. Hatred towards her mother.

I knew then how evil Lathania was then. All my years of loyalty no longer mattered. Those years were for nothing. Nothing! I realized then that there was good in the world, just by looking at this beautiful creature.

I also realized what exactly I had gotten myself into. If this girl ever tried to leave, I would be forced to kill her! I couldn't even dream of killing her, I would have to kill myself as well. At that moment I hope, no prayed, that she would never try to leave. All along, I knew Lathania had planned it this way.

And that's what I did for the next six years of my life. I watched the beautiful goddess, never making noise, never thinking without blocking my thoughts. Just watching the goddess. Watching her cry, and write, and sing. She was beautiful.

I just watched.

Until one day, when I was watching, three people, suddenly appeared in the room, directly on top of the floor pattern. There were two males, one with brown hair and eyes and the other with violet eyes and blue hair. The third was a girl, pretty. They were the first people I'd seen in six years. The goddess talked to the three people. I wasn't listening though, worrying.

And suddenly, I felt the affects of the curse take hole. I felt myself de-invisibleizing, and running toward the goddess, poisonous dart in hand.


	8. 7: Alessia

Chapter 7: Alessia

Today started off like any ordinary day. I woke up, took a walk around this wretched planet, worked on one of my manuscripts. I've written hundreds of things; novels, short stories, songs, and poems. It occupies a good majority of my time. The rest of the time, I watch. I've watched the fall of the Roman Empire and the rape of Nam King. I've watched the first people to cross the land bridge into North America. I've watched the modern day things like the fall of the twin towers, computers, the bombings in France. Such a boring life. Sometimes I feel as if I'm being watched as well, hearing whispers of thoughts blowing in the breeze.

And now I've watched them come for me. Because I can't see the Underworld with the spheres, I don't know exactly what they're doing right now, so I pack up all of my things, getting ready.

A few hours after I see them leave Earth through the portal in the sky, three people appear before me on the red symbol where I first came from.

Instantly, I knew that it was my sister. "Neriah," I whisper. We run towards each other, arms wide open to embrace. "Oh little sister! I thought I would never actually get to see you in person. This is so wonderful."

"Alessia. You have such a beautiful name," my sister whispered.

"As do you," I replied. She then steps back and gives me a chance to see my cousins.

Arkarian, my blue-haired cousin with the extraordinary violet eyes, steps foreword. "It is good to finally meet you," he said as he hugged me.

"And you too!" I exclaimed. "And Matt!" I said stepping towards my brown haired and eyed cousin, leader of the Named. "Matt it is so good to meet you!" He smiled at me.

"You have no idea how I've longed to finally you three, my family. I've watched all everything that has happened in the past fourteen years. I am so excited to finally be able to help the Guard. It's what I've dreamed of my entire life," I said, breathlessly. Then add, "I used to be severely beaten by my _mother_ for thinking those thoughts before I was able to cover them."

Tears shone in Neriah's eyes. How I loved her already. "Never again, sister, for your _mother_ is dead and gone. You have us now."

"Yes, I do," I replied with a sigh of happiness. "And for that, I am grateful."

"I think we should go now," Matt said, "This place gives me the creeps."

"It's been my home for the past fourteen years. Yet it has never actually been my home. Just a place the rebel daughter was discarded," I said in a melancholy voice. "Yes, I am ready to leave." I then spat on the ground of the dungeon. The three of them laughed.

"Okay, Alessia," Arkarian said, grabbing one of my bags lying on the floor. "You knew we were coming?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, I did. From the orbs outside," I replied to his question.

"Show me," he asked and I did. Once we got out to the orbs, he examined them closely.

"We should smash them," I muttered. "They have sustained me for fourteen years, yet have made my life hell as well."

"Yes we should. If we take them with us, they could easily fall into the wrong hands. That would be a devastatingly loss to the Guard," he said, deep in thought. "You should smash them, Alessia," he said, smiling at me.

"It would be my pleasure, cousin." Concentrating on them, I gently blew on them with my breath. They flew a hundred feet or so away and them exploded, an unbearable bang filling our ears. I sent another gust at the discinigrated orbs so the sound didn't blow back our way.

Matt whistled. "Wow, you'll have to teach me that one."

"Gladly. Of course, I have had a long time to practice."

"Yeah, I'd say you have," Neriah said with a melodic laugh.

The four of us headed back towards my enprisonment, talking and laughing like we had all been raised together since we were children. Once inside, they showed me how they got in to my world. Just as we were about to leave, a boy appeared out of thin air from the corner of the room. Or actually, I should say a man. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen, and I had seen millions of men through the three spheres. His hair was raven black, his bangs brushing across his sapphire eyes. With tanned skin, he stood about six feet three inches. I was so mesmerized by his face that I didn't even notice that he had a long dart in his hand.

"Stop me!" he screamed, as he ran towards me. "Stop me! This dart will kill you, goddess. Please stop me!"

I could only stand there as if I was hypnotized. My entire body froze up, my muscles leadened. A flash white light zoomed past me and hit the man. He cried out in agony, half his hand gone. Blood was spurting forth everywhere. I could even see the white bone. A sickening sight, but somehow, it snapped my senses back into place.

"Quickly!" Arkarian said. "We have to get back and get him to Isabel!"

My muscles unfroze. I ran towards the man and grabbed his good arm and pulled him towards the circle. Touching his skin sent electric tingles through out me body. I think he felt it, too, because he wasn't even focusing on his wounded hand. He was staring deeply into my eyes. When we reached the circle, Matt grabbed onto us as they said the very words that became an endless chant in my head. Light engulfed us, as the man finally cried out in agony.


	9. 8: Gabriol

Chapter 8: Gabriol

The pain was unbearable, once I noticed it, that is. When _she_ grabbed my arm, the mere contact of our skin numbed my hand almost entirely. The force of her powerful eyes, I thought, was what had really killed the pain. When we transported to the Underworld, her eyes became averted from mine, and I felt the pain. Oh hell, I felt the pain. It felt like my hand was on fire, roasting over a scorching pit. Despite myself, I let out my own anguished cries.

The goddess, Alessia they called her, screamed as well, my thoughts stabbing into her mind like a battering ram. The other three, whose names I didn't quite catch due to recent events, winced as well.

Finally, after all these years, I knew what _her_ name was. Alessia. Such a beautiful name to go with a beautiful woman, or goddess I should say.

Despite my overly conscious screams, we transported; a blinding white light engulfed us. And then we were in the Underworld, in the very room Lathania had taken me to as a child. It looked very much the same, except it was filled with three other people who I had seen through the sphere when I dared to look over the goddess' shoulder. There was a teenage boy and two girls.

"Isabel!" the blue-haired man screamed as we landed. One of the girls ran foreword, glancing at him in panic. Turning to face me, he said reassuringly, "Isabel is a healer." I nodded, my face twisted in a grimace.

The girl called Isabel winced at my wounds, but gently placed her hands on mine. Alessia was still holding on to my arm, which I was _very_ aware of. It was extremely comforting. Her face was filled with concern. I was touched by her apparent concern for me, someone she had just met, if you could call it that because I'd been watching her for six years.

My hand quickly healed, as good as new. "Thank you," I said gratefully to Isabel. She merely nodded, stepping back to stand next to the blue-haired man, eyeing me curiously.

"Who is this?" a girl with long black hair and startling green eyes asked him, nodding towards me.

"That is a good question," he said. "I am Arkarian. This is Matt, Isabel, Ethan, Rochelle, and Neriah," he added, pointing to each person in turn. "And I think that you know Alessia."

At this, Alessia looked up sharply at Arkarian, finally fully realizing that she had no idea who I was, only that I had tried and did not try to kill her, if that makes any sense at all. She quickly dropped my arm and stepped back, rationality taking over in her mind.

"My name is Gabriol West," I offered.

"Okay," he nodded. "We should get back to earth. There is no telling how many hours or days we've been gone. When we get back, we will have explanations then." He led the way out with Matt and Ethan at his sides. The girls followed, Neriah's arm looped through Alessia's. They were smiling and talking excitedly. Sisters, I think I heard them say before. Matt and Arkarian were her cousins as well, I believe.

I followed behind the girls, a pace or so behind. Alessia's head kept turning around to face me, her eyes on me, watching. I didn't really know what to think of it.

We walked for a while, finally coming to a clearing where everyone gathered into a circle, grabbing each other's hands. I stood back, at a loss for what to do. Alessia turned toward me and asked, "My dear Gabriol, are you coming? Or would you rather stay in this land of utmost filth?" A teasing grin was on her face. She let go of Ethan's hand that she'd been holding, making room for me. I quickly joined the group. Grasping her hand was like taking a vacation in Heaven.

"Alessia. Why don't you open the rift between the worlds?" Arkarian asked the beautiful girl next to me.

"I wouldn't know what to do," she said softly.

"It should be instinct. Just try, envision it happening. _Will_ it to happen. I know you can," he replied as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

I watched her closely. She concentrated hand on the sky. At first nothing really happened, but then suddenly, a huge, raging black funnel cloud stormed out of the sky, headed right for us. It was upon us in seconds, sucking us up into it. We spun faster and faster around in circles, going up. Before I knew it, we were spinning downward and landing softly on the ground.

"Wow," Matt said with genuine awe. I silently agreed.

I followed everyone back to where ever we were going. Alessia hung back too, walking beside me. Neriah turned around, looking for her, but when she saw us walking together, she smiled and reached for Matt's hand.

"You are very powerful," I said to her.

"Umm...thank you," she replied, blushing. She was obvious oblivious of how great her own powers are.

"Alessia, before they make me tell my story, I just want to say how sorry that I am."

"It is okay, Gabriol," she replied smiling. How I loved her saying my name. She reached over for my hand and grasped it. I was surprised but not displeased by her sudden action. "I have always read," she began, "that when you finally meet your soul mate, you automatically know it. And I know that you are mine. Even though you had that poisonous dart in your hand, I know that you did not mean to harm me. You were merely a pawn of my mother's. I saw the love in your eyes and well as the agony and regret."

With that, she leaned over and kissed me softly on the lips. I could hardly breath. Suddenly, after growing up in hell, life had turned perfect.


	10. 9: Ethan

Chapter 9: Ethan

When we were walking up to the entrance of Arkarian's chambers, for some reason I turned around. Because I was holding Rochelle's hand, she had to stop and turn around as well. Before our eyes, our new friends, Alessia and Gabriol, were in each other's arms, making out, to put it bluntly. Already I felt a soft spot for them. Both had grown up in bad homes. I wasn't sure about Gabriol, but because he had gotten mixed up in with Lathania and the Order. I knew what it was like to grow up in a broken home, so to speak. My sister was murdered before my eyes when I was only four. My father became nonexistent in my life until recently. My mother fell into such a deep depression that Isabel saw her commit suicide in one of her visions. Now everything was 'back to normal.' Dad was active in the Guard again and Mom had snapped out of her depression.

Yes, already I knew that we would become friends.

Rochelle stood on her toes to say softly in my ear, "Love knows no boundaries. He almost kills her, and yet there they are, already in love." A small smile crept onto her face.

"But from the way I understand it, it was an accident."

"I know," she said. She kissed me lightly on the cheek. I smiled too.

"Hey you two!" I yelled to them. They stepped away from each other quickly, embarrassed. Rochelle and I both grinned. "Come on!"

Alessia and Gabriol ran to catch up to us, still holding hands. When they finally caught up to us, they're faces were still flushed. The four of us walked the rest of the way to Arkarian's chambers together. The others had already gone inside. When we reached the entrance, the stone wall vanished. Alessia gasped quietly. They followed Rochelle and me inside and to the 'sitting room.' We took our seats, closing the circle of chairs.

"I think that we should get started," Matt said impatiently. Always the impatient one, I thought. He apparently heard my thoughts and chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Ethan. I think I'll let Arkarian handle this."

"Well, okay," Arkarian said, a little startled. "I think that we should first start with Alessia. She was in that world longer."

Alessia, taking a deep breath, began, "Well, I am sure everyone in this room by now knows that Lathania is, I mean was, my mother. And Marduke is my father. I am twenty years old and lived on that planet, which I named Doom, for sixteen years. My mother and father and that wretched wizard Keziah locked me up their one day after I tried to escape from the Underworld, which was were I lived before I lived on Doom." On and on she talked, about her past, about her parents, just making me hate Lathania and Marduke far more that I had already.

When she was finally finished, we all sat in stunned silence. Neriah had tears rolling gently down her cheeks. And then it was time for Gabriol to speak.

"My parents died when I was very young. My uncle took care of me after that, but he died soon after. My _Grandmother,_" he practically spat, "was my guardian after that. She never loved me, just took me in out of duty. You see, she was a good Christian woman and was just doing what God wanted of her, or more like what her church thought she should do. As I grew a little older, I began talking to myself, or so she thought. Really, I was talking to my parents and my uncle. One of my powers is my ability to talk to the dead."

Everyone gasped in unison. Never in the history of the Guard had there been someone with the gift of talking to the dead.

"She always called me cursed and she never loved me. I guess that was how I became such easy prey for the Order. My other gift, as you might have already guessed is invisibility. That was how I remained on Planet Doom for as long as I did without being noticed." He talked about how his grandmother abused him for being 'cursed' and how he was tricked into living on Doom. He also told us how Lathania tricked him into killing Alessia with a poison dart if she ever tried to leave, how she put a real curse on him that would force him to.

Once again the room was filled with silence when he was finished telling his story. One by one, the rest of us began telling ours to the two newcomers. They shared in the tears and sadness. It truly began feeling like they had been a part of the Guard for years instead of mere hours.

Alessia, finally realizing, asked, "Where are we to live?"

"I sure as hell am not going back to my _grandmother's_ house," Gabriol said savagely. I could understand why.

Neriah had apparently already thought of that. "Alessia is staying with me," she said determinedly.

I look up at my father and ask, "Dad?" He knew what I was asking obviously, because he nodded his head. "Gabriol will stay with us," I said.

"Okay," Gabriol said, pleased with the arrangement.

As everyone got ready to leave, Dillon walked into the room. "Ethan, I just want to apologize for what I did-" but he cut off when he looked up at Gabriol. "Armand!" he asked, amazed.

"Bastion!" Gabriol asked, in equal amazement. They quickly step towards each other, arms opened in a hug.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dillon asked him.

"You remember that 'great assignment' I told you about? Well, I was sent to watch Lathania's daughter."

"Do you two know each other?" Isabel asked, catching on. They both nod.

"Bastion, or I guess I should say Dillon, was the first friend that I ever had, even though he was three years younger than me. I really had no one else until I met him. I think that was part of the reason that Lathania sent me away, to separate us. For the six years that I was on that planet, I gave my life a lot of thought, and that was the only logical thing I could think of as to why _I _was the one who was sent there. If we were together, then we probably would have escaped together. She didn't want that, two of her strongest members, gone from the Order and joining the Guard," Gabriol said.

I walked up to Dillon and Gabriol and said to Dillon, "I am really sorry about earlier."

"Well, actually, it was _yesterday,_ but I know what you mean. I forgive you and am sorry too." We gave each other a 'man-hug,' as Isabel so delicately put it. Dillon stepped towards Rochelle. "Roh, I have to apologize to you too. I know that you aren't working for the Order anymore. I was acting really pig-headed yesterday. Forgive me?" he asked.

"Of course," Rochelle said, giving him a quick hug too. She hadn't completely forgot about the fight that happened _yesterday_ like I had hoped she had. Or about me killing that man, either. I know that was still bothering her as well.


	11. 10: Gabriol

Chapter 10: Gabriol

A few weeks had passed since I had moved back to Earth. I got a job to pay for the many dates I took Alessia on. She seemed to love me as much as I loved her, which surprised me still because I had tried to kill her, even if it was against my will, and because she had known me six years shorter than I had known her.

With a vengeance, the Guard worked to discover when exactly Marduke and Keziah would strike. The first three weeks after Lathania's death went by without so much at a robbery. Arkarian diligently watched the past, looking for anything amiss, until one day, he saw something not quite right in Rome.

We had all gathered to in his chambers one-day after the others got out from school and work. Shaun, Ethan, and I were the last to arrive because Ethan had detention after school for being late one too many times.

"Well, the slow ones now join us," Alessia said with a smile as I sat down beside her. Already, we fit in with the Guard, joking and laughing like we had been a part of it as long as the rest of them.

"We have a problem," Arkarian said in a slightly stern voice that got our attention. Once he had everyone's attention, he cleared his voice slightly and said, "Something is amiss in ancient Rome. Tonight, we are sending a team. This will be Alessia's and Gabriol's first mission. Also accompanying them will be Ethan and Matt."

I nodded, excited at the prospect. I knew what a big deal this was by now having been fully filled in by Ethan and Shaun the very night I moved in with them. Living with the Roberts was great. They made me feel as if I was a part of the family, especially Laura, Ethan's mother. I knew that she had lost a child a number of years ago, but she made me feel as if I had become a part of the family. When they brought me home with them, she had asked no questions as to who I was; just welcomed me with opened arms. Ethan had warned me that she didn't know anything about the Guard or the Order, so I wasn't to say anything. Shaun had become like the father I never had the chance to know and Ethan had quickly become a brother to me and my best friend, besides Alessia that is. Dillon and I caught up and had become friends again as well.

When we the three of us arrived back home after the meeting, I went over the plan in my head so many times. Ethan chuckled. It wasn't fair for him to laugh at me, he had been a part of the Guard since he was four.

"Go to bed no earlier than usual," Ethan had instructed me. "Especially, do not say that you are sick or have a headache; it gives reason for you to be checked on. You cannot have that. Believe me, I know," he said with a grimace at memory. He then told me about the time that he and Isabel were in the past and his dad had tried to wake him up. This was before Shaun knew that Ethan was in the Guard and before he had rejoined himself.

"The conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar is not going the way it is supposed to go. I believe that the Order has sent members there to stop the murder of Julius Caesar. If he does not die when he was supposed to, the Roman Empire might not fall at all or when it was supposed to have fallen. It could change the entire past from then on and can change the future as we know it.

"Your mission," he had continued, "is to make sure that Julius Caesar is killed by the conspirators the way he was supposed to have been killed. By Brutus and Cassius and Casca and all the others."

As I lay in bed that night, I tried my hardest to fall asleep, with know success. It took me hours of restless rolling over and tossing and turning before I fell into a fitful sleep. The next thing I knew was landing in the place that Ethan told me was the Citadel, now rebuilt to the way it was before the last battle. Which wasn't really the last battle by now.

Looking around the room, I could see a hazy purple mist coating the floor. The stone wall was covered in portraits of various people, some that I recognized out of the Order, like Rochelle, Ethan, Arkarian, Isabel, Alessia, Matt, Neriah, Shaun, Jimmy, and myself. The frames appeared to be made of a heavy, solid gold.

"Strange, isn't it?" Alessia asked form behind me, looking over my shoulder. I whipped around.

"Yeah, it is," I replied, reaching for her hand. I pulled her to me and kissed her lightly on the lips. She responded, deepening the kiss and wrapping her arms around my neck.

Someone coughed over in the corner of the room. Standing there were Ethan and Matt, both grinning at us. "You know, Gab, Matt is extremely protective of his sister. Once, he punched me because of it. I'd hate to see what he'd do to protect his goddess cousin," Ethan said simply, a grin on his face. Matt slugged him playfully in the arm. "What?" he asked. "I'm just stating the facts. Though, know this Matt, Alessia _is_ older than you."

"Oh, you boys, stop," Alessia grinned. "I might be older, but I am _obviously_ more mature than the three of you put together," she added. "Boys will be boys," she muttered under her breath.

We quickly got changed into our new identities. Glancing in the mirror, I saw that my black hair had lightened to a light brown, near blonde. I shrunk a few inches and my skin lightened too. I was dressed in a long white sheet, it appeared.

I looked over at Alessia quickly. She, too, was dressed in a white toga, but hers was more feminine. Her hair had turned into a raven and her pale, ivory skin had become well tanned. She also shrank a few inches, but her eyes, her glorious eyes were still the same emeralds that I had grown to love. Beautiful, she still was no matter what she looked like. I know that she heard my thoughts because she blushed, a satisfied smile played about her lips.

Matt and Ethan looked similar to me, with the light hair and paler skin. Once we took that strange stuff that gave us our identities, I knew why. They were my brothers, Gailius and Jenisus. I became Calius and Alessia was my wife, Alorah.

"Ready?" Matt asked. I nodded, taking Alessia's hand. I was glad that she was going to be my wife, even if it all was just a hoax of sorts. We followed the other two to a large black chasm. He grinned, pointing at the hole.

"Now what?" I asked, them failing to see the correlation between the pointing and the pit.

"Now we jump," he said simply.

"Jump?" Alessia stammered.

"Yes jump," Matt said. "Besides, you are immortal. You can't die. Unless another immortal kills you, that is."

"Yes, but Gabriol and Ethan aren't immortal. They can die!" Alessia screeched.

"Don't worry about it, Less," Ethan said, trying not to laugh, but failing. "Let me demonstrate. And then he jumped.

"Holy shit!" Alessia screamed.

"It's okay," Matt said, fighting the same laughter that Ethan had just fought and failed. "We can jump together."

"Well, okay," Alessia said. She stood between Matt and I and grabbed his hand as well as mine.

"Remember what I told you about landing, okay? On three now," Matt began. "One. Two. Three!" And the rest of us jumped too, into the large black pit that I was sure contained all of our deaths.


	12. 11: Gabriol

Author's Notes: I hope that everyone has been enjoying this story so far. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please contact me and I will gladly get back to you. If you like the story or if you don't, please leave a review. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Chapter 11: Gabriol

I could see us falling. Hitting the ground wasn't something I expected though. I forgot everything that Matt and Ethan had said about landing. Hitting the ground _hurt!_ I stood up and saw Alessia floating in mid-air, ten feet above the ground. "Come down, my little angel," I said jumping and catching her hand in mine. Slowly I pulled her down to Earth, until she was standing next to me, straightening her toga. "Silly Alessia." She smiled at my comment.

Ethan was in the corner, roaring with laughter, which he had been doing ever since we had landed. "You should have seen your face, Less. It was classic!" he said between giggles.

"Ha ha, Ethan. That is so very funny," Alessia muttered, then smiled.

"I think we should get started. First we have to introduce ourselves to Caesar and his court. Alessia, I'm afraid to say this but-"

"Yes, Cousin Matt, I _know_ that women were treated like dirt in ancient times," I said, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"Okay. Let's go then."

We all walked out of what appeared to be some kind of closet of sorts and waited for the coast to be clear before we proceeded onward. Once outside, it was obvious as to where the palace was, off in the distance, sitting on a slight hill.

When we reached the doors, a guard wearing a short brown toga and leather armor with a funny hat with a big red feather-thing stopped us. "Peace friends. What trouble have you at this palace?" he asked.

"I am Jenisus," Ethan began, the most practiced at speaking to others in history. "These are my brothers Gailius and Calius and this is Calius' wife, Alorah. We are the brothers, Senators from the magnificent city of Thellevieve, here to speak with the almighty Caesar. I believe, good sir, we are expected."

"Be that as it may, Senator Jenisus, but I have no orders to let anyone in today," the guard replied in a gruff voice.

"Why, how can that be, I ask you. We sent messengers weeks ago to inform the almighty Caesar of this meeting. We _are_ expected, of that I am sure. And we have traveled so far also."

"Aye, Senator. Wait here and I shall see if you are permitted to enter," the guard said, turning on his heal and entering the palace. A few minutes later, he returned and said, "Indeed, your meeting was not expected. Perhaps your messenger got lost? Caesar recommends using the god Mercury next time for no one is swifter than he, but Caesar shall let you enter. Follow me."

The four of us followed the guard into and down a long corridor. "What be today's date, good sir? We traveled many and lost track of time."

"Why, tomorrow be the Ides of March, silly man."

"That means we only have one day until Caesar is supposed to die. We had better hurry and convince Brutus that he should partake in the assassination," Matt whispered to me. I nodded, already thinking the same thing.

"This is the meeting room of the Great Caesar and his fellow senators," the guard said, turning on his heal and leaving us once again. We entered the room.

"Welcome, travelers, welcome. I am Julius Caesar. This man here be Brutus, and Casca, and Cassius, Marc Antony, and etc. We are glad you have come!" Caesar said excitedly. "Tell us, tell us why you have journeyed so far from your home?"

"I am Gailius and these are my brothers Jenisus and Calius, and this is Alorah, Calius' wife. We have come on a most urgent matter," Matt began.

Casca laughed. "But why have need of the woman? Surly Rome has plenty good women to bed."

I felt infuriated at his comment towards Alessia. "Why my woman here is by far one of the most respected in all of Thellevieve. She also knows some first hand information that be for Caesar's ears only."

"Oh, good woman, do you now? And what, pray tell, that?" Casca asked mockingly.

"As my husband already said, it is for the Caesar's ears only, unless he wishes to tell you, that is," Alessia said to Casca, satisfied.

"I have always trusted the mouths of woman, other than my wife's. Come with me gentle lady and tell me your tale," Caesar said, motioning for the four of us to follow him. We entered a comfortable sitting room with off-white walls and gold stripes through the middle and along the floor. He motioned for us to take a seat on the plush cushions. We did.

"Now, what exactly brings you to Rome?" Caesar asked, directing his question towards Alessia, whom I think he was smitten with. It might be to our advantage, I thought.

"Well, good Caesar, I have learned a most heinous thing. When I was inspecting the cleaning of our palace, I overheard two of my servant girls whispering in the shadow," she began.

"Just like a woman to eavesdrop," Caesar said with a chuckle. Alessia gave a fake smile that appeared to almost pain her face. Caesar, however, didn't notice or if he did, didn't care.

"As, I was standing in the shadows, I overheard one of the girls say that her husband told her that you, good Caesar, weren't going to be in power much longer. When she realized that I was there she let out a shrill scream and feinted. When she came too, my husband prompted her to tell him exactly what she had meant when she said that you weren't going to be in power much longer. With a good deal of persuasion, she finally told him that there was to be an attack on Rome by the despicable Egyptians!"

Caesar didn't even appear concerned by the news. "The Egyptians! They are hardly strong enough to attack Rome and win. Now now, silly woman, you are getting excited over nothing."

"I do not think it is nothing, great Caesar," I said, jumping in to her defense. "I, too, am worried."

Matt and Ethan nodded.

Still Caesar remained unfazed. Hours later, after the dinner (which was disgusting on account of the purging that only Romans are famous for), one of Caesar's servants showed us to our rooms. I should have expected it, but when he showed _Alessia and my room,_ I silently panicked and rejoiced. I really should have known that it was coming because Caesar did believe that we were really husband and wife.

Alessia sat uncomfortably on a couch, pretending to examine her nails. "Less?" I asked, sitting next to her. We had been dating for weeks but never had we been alone _alone_ (as in bedroom alone) together. We were both nervous, that much was obvious.

She looked up at the sound of my voice. "Oh, Gabriol, I don't know what's wrong with me. We have been together for nearly a month now and I know that you are my soul mate, but for some reason, I nervous."

"Me too," I replied.

She laughed. Boy, did her laughter sound like music to my ears. It truly did. Gently, she laid her left hand on my cheek. I put my hand over top of hers, lightly squeezing it. She sighed with pleasure. "Gabriol, I love you," she whispered in my ear.

Slowly, she lay back on the couch, pulling me on top of her. "Less, are you sure?" I asked, my voice becoming ragged. I'd never had any experience with women before and was just as confused and inexperienced as she was.

"Oh, Gabriol, of course I'm sure," she whispered. Alessia slipped her arms around my neck and began kissing me. I kissed her back, my own passion growing. My hands, as if they had a mind of their own, began undoing her toga. She, once again, sighed with pleasure. Lightly I trailed kisses across her chest as she squirmed beneath me, reaching to take off my toga as well.

Just then, though, our bedroom door was flung open. And there stood Matt and Ethan, both wearing identical expressions; mouths dropped and cheeks red.

"Oh, shit!" Alessia breathed in my ear.


	13. 12: Alessia

Author's Notes: Here's another chapter. Hope ya enjoy it!

Chapter 12: Alessia

I gasped as I tried to pull my toga (why, oh, why did Romans have to wear sheets?) back on. It was a struggle. Gabriol quickly jumped off of me and adjusted his too. Matt and Ethan just stood there staring at us with a look I'd have to call shock or possibly even surprise. Neither had the sense to close their eyes or turn around or anything. At least the bedroom door was shut.

Once we were completely redressed, Gabriol said with a laugh, "Umm, you should have knocked first."

Ethan, finally snapping out of his trance, said, "We did knock, but I don't think you guys heard us."

"Oh!" I said, my face blushing.

A few minutes later, Matt pulled me aside and whispered, "Alessia, I know that you are old enough to make your own decsions, but not having been on earth long, I don't think you know about _birth control._ I-"

"Matt!" I gasped. "Jeez, do you think that I am a fool? Remember, I spent the past fourteen years watching people on earth."

"Well, yes, I know that, but-"

"Isabel was right about you, cousin. You do worry too much."

"Well, I have big responsibilities, you know. And since when have you been talking to Isabel?" Matt asked, getting slightly angry.

"Only since I arrived on earth, dear cousin. I wanted to know everything about you because you are my family. Not that there was much that I didn't know already."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I know all about Mr. Swuggles," I said coyly, forgetting my own recent embarrassment and blossoming off of his.

"Mr. Swuggles!" Ethan exclaimed, catching on to the conversation. "I remember Mr. Swuggles!"

"Who is Mr. Swuggles?" Gabriol asked, wrapping his arms around my stomach and pulling me to him. It felt nice.

Matt mumbled something inaudible.

"What was that Matt? Your ratty old stuffed bear, did you say?"

"That's what I heard," laughed Ethan. I felt Gabriol laugh from behind me, his laughter rumbling from his chest. God, did that feel nice too.

"Well, moving on," Matt began. "To the real reason we came to your room. And believe me, it wasn't to watch you play monkey either."

"Touché," I replied. "No wait, this on is better. Et tu, Brute?"

Ethan, catching on, roared with laughter. Gabriol smiled.

"The _real _reason we came to your room is because we have to convince Brutus that you has to take part in the conspiracy, that he has to say that it is going to happen. Because the other conspirators will only do it if Brutus gives him the okay."

"You're right. We should go talk to him," Gabriol said.

"Let's go then," Matt said.

Once outside, it wasn't hard to find Brutus' home. It was by far bigger than the other homes around (oh, yeah, and I just had to pry into a few minds until I found the directions.) We knocked on the door.

A young boy of perhaps twelve answered. "We need to speak to your master. It is of the utmost importance."

The boy nodded and went to get Brutus.

"What Brutus, more nightly visitors," we heard from inside. It was obviously Brutus' wife, Portia, I believe her name was.

"Yes, my dear, when you are in the senate, important matters do not wait." a voice replied.

A moment later, Brutus appeared at the door. "Ah," he said, "our guests from Tellevieve." We followed him out to the courtyard and sat down. "So tell, me guests, why do you come to visit me in the dead of night?"

"Well, good Brutus," I began. We had rehearsed what we were to say several times before we left earth. Now it was time to execute. "I will be blunt with you. We were not here to see Caesar, as we said we were. We are here, actually, to see you."

"And why would you want to see me?" he asked, suspicious.

"In all honesty, Brutus, we are prophets," Ethan said in a most convincing manner. "We know that you are supposed to be part of a conspiracy to kill the Caesar tomorrow."

"Who told you tha-"

"Let me finish. We haven't much time. We also know that you are undecided about whether or not you should take part in it. We are here to tell you that you _must_ take part in the plot."

"Why _must_ I take part in the plot to kill Caesar. He is my friend."

"I know he is," I said sympathetically. "But Caesar is dangerous. We have seen into the future, and if he is to live, he will never be stopped! On and on he will fight until he is in the very top seat in Rome. Nothing will stand in his way. Nothing! He will kill all of you, all of his senators and friends, just so he has no one to answer to."

"Everyone?" Brutus asked.

"Yes," Gabriol said. "And under Caesar, Rome will fall to the _Egyptians!_" Gabriol added, saying Egyptians as if it was a dirty word.

"Rome fall to the Egyptians? That can't be!"

"Believe us, Brutus, it will be if you do not stop Caesar now," Ethan said.

"I believe you. Tomorrow will be the last day of Julius Caesar!"

When we all woke up the next morning, we quickly dressed and ate breakfast. We met Caesar for lunch as well, biding our time. Our job now was to make sure that Caesar was killed the way he was supposed to be.

"I am sorry, my guests. But I have to leave you now. Cassius has called a meeting that I must attend. We shall talk more of what you told me yesterday later, alright?"

"Of course," Ethan said.

Silently, we followed. Once we were at the door to the conference room, we opened if ajar to watch. Inside, we could see them arguing for a moment and then Cassius pulled out a long sword and stabbed Caesar in the stomach. Everyone took turns stabbing him, until it was finally Brutus' turn.

In his hand he held the sword for a moment. I read his mind and could tell that he was thinking about what we said to him last night. He finally reached his descion and stabbed Caesar harshly in the chest. We all heard Caesar's famous last words, et tu, Brute?

"Hey!" Casca yelled, spotting us by the door.

"Arkarian!" Ethan yelled. Nothing happened. "Arkarian!" he yelled again.

"Run!" I screamed. "Run everyone!"

We all turned around and took off. The senators chased after us. As if in a nightmare, Gabriol tripped and fell. "No!" I screamed, running back to him.

"Run Alessia! Forget about me!"

By that time, Cassius had reached Gabriol and plunged his own sword deep into his chest.

"No!" I screamed madly. With my mind, I blasted all that had chased after us into the wall. I ran to Gabriol and kneeled at his side, taking his hand in mine. "Oh, Gabriol." I cried.

"Don't worry about me," he said so quietly. He tried to give my hand a reassuring squeeze, but was too weak to do so. His chest rose and fell one last time and his hand went limp in mine, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"No!" I screamed again, blasting away a portion of the wall. Matt used his powers to hold it up, otherwise it would have crushed us.

"Arkarian!" Ethan screamed again. This time I felt us transport back to the Citadel, me still clutching Gabriol's body.


	14. 13: Alessia

Author's Notes: Sorry guys, but this is going to be a fairly short chapter, but I hope you like it. I know that I sure enjoyed writing this one, just like I will the next. A big thank-you to everyone who has reviewed my story and to anyone who just reads it and enjoys it.

Chapter 13: Alessia

Arkarian and Isabel were already waiting for us when we arrived in the Citadel. Huge, raking sobs filled my body as I realized that Gabriol was dead. I clutched the front of his shirt, the togas and other Roman attire vanishing upon our arrival. The wound was still bleeding profusely.

"Alessia," someone called. I couldn't even tell whom the voice belonged to, but I did realize that it was familiar. "Alessia," they called again.

Suddenly, I felt myself being jerked away from Gabriol's body. "No, no! Don't take me away from him!" I wept. "Let me stay with him. He needs me!"

"Alessia," Arkarian said softly from behind me. "Gabriol died in the past. That means there is still a chance to save him."

And then it hit me. I remember watching Isabel die just a few years ago. Ethan followed her there to try and save her, but in the end, it was Arkarian who saved her and brought her soul back.

"I understand," I said, standing up and nodding. There was no way I was going to let Gabriol down, when he had his whole life in front of him still. No way was I going to let him down in his time of great need.

"Okay, come with me," Arkarian said. I followed him, though I couldn't tell you exactly what or where we went. Things were still hazy and quickly passed out of my head as soon as they happened. I guess that just happens when your soul mate dies. I do remember, however, that I had to find Gabriol before he saw the light and call his name. He should then turn around and follow me out, if I was indeed his soul mate. If I wasn't, then he would stay dead forever.

I was one hundred percent convinced though that I was his soul mate, I would even bet my life on it.

Soon enough, I was in a world full of gray, horrid trapped souls lurking all over the place. I gasped at the sight and then shuddered. This is what Gabriol saw on a daily basis, having the gift of speaking with the dead and all. My poor Gabriol, growing up thinking he was cursed. It was sort of how I felt living with Lathania, with an occasional visit from my father. They always made me feel as if there was something wrong with me, always. Like I was some kind of sub-human (though I'm _not_ really human at all), or way beneath them because of what I believed in.

I searched and searched through the opaque bodies of the lost souls, always keeping an eye out for Gabriol. "Gabriol!" I called, just in case he was near by but couldn't see me. "Gabriol, it's me, Alessia. I'm here to take you home!"

After of searching for about two hours, I began to panic, thinking that he had already reached the light before I could find him. And then a sudden thought entered my head. What if because of his ability to speak with the dead he completely surpassed this place? Or worse yet, what if he was using his ability to become invisible? In either of these cases, I would never find him. Then I shall stay in this retched limbo until I do find him. Or until I join him.

As if in a movie (I watched every movie that came out through my present, past and future spheres), I saw him just ahead, sitting in the grass. (Grass was an extremely loose term for the black shrubbery growing in the soil.) He sat there, as if contemplating whether or not to go on, for a pearly bridge sat just in front of him. A faint light emanated from it, drawing souls to itself.

"Gabriol!" I screamed, running towards him silently so not to scare him. "Gabriol come back!"

He turned around, a look of surprise on his face. Once Gabriol's soul realized who was calling his name, an expression of pleasure broke out over his face.

"Come with me Gabriol," I said quietly through my tears of joy. He followed me.

Like with the journey to this limbo, I didn't remember the journey back either. As soon as I reached the newly built Citadel, I ran the halls, searching for the room Gabriol was in. Once I found it, I saw Isabel crouching over his body, sealing the stab wound.

"Oh Gabriol," I sighed, rushing towards him. I threw my arms around him, practically suffocating him in the process.

"Alessia, they said that I _died!_"

"I know sweetie, I know," I murmured in his ear.

"And they said that you saved me, that you brought my soul back to my body."

"Yes, yes. It's all over now, love."

Gently, he leaned towards my face and kissed me sweetly. He rested his hands on my cheeks, tracing light circles with his thumbs. "No, Alessia. It isn't over."

I pulled back slightly. "I don't understand."

"Everything is just beginning. For us, that is," he said, staring intently into my eyes. It was extremely hard to concentrate on what he was saying when he was touching me, but somehow I surpassed the urge to jump him right on the spot, in front of Ethan, Isabel, Arkarian, and Matt. "Everything _is_ just beginning, but only if you agree to be my wife."

Sorry about the cliffhanger. I know. I know. Now you hate me, but the next chapter is going to be good.

Morgan

Return to Top


	15. 14: Gabriol

Author's Notes: Here's another chapter. Hope you enjoy it. A big thank-you to anyone who has reviewed already and to anyone who will in the future.

To littleprincesskatie- I plan to tell how Alessia and Gabriol will be together in future chapters. For some odd reason, neither of them has realized the problem yet, which is probably because they are so obsessed with each other currently and do not notice the little things going on and because they are both so young so it hasn't made a difference yet.

I would also like to thank elven-jewel-18, Elledreamer, aromatropical, Agate16, miss nen yim, and Reasonable for there reviews. Thanks so much guys! I people weren't reviewing, I don't' think that I would finish this story but since they are, (yay!) I am continuing it. Actually, I probably wouldn't care either way 'cuz I had to get this idea off my chest.

Chapter 14: Gabriol

I knew that I was sort of going out on a limb just asking her to marry me out of the blue. I also knew that it was different for me because I've loved her for so long, due to all the years it was my duty to watch her. But the first time I laid eyes on her, watching her became more than duty; it became a necessity.

I sat there watching her every move. First she sat there for a moment, taking in what I had asked her. Then her eyes welled up with tears. I was almost positive at that point she was going to turn me down, thinking up ways to let me down easy. Next, she ever so gently, cupped my face with her hands and drew my face to hers for a soft kiss.

When she pulled away, I could see a single tear falling down her face. "Oh, Gabriol. I would be so honored to be your wife."

This time, I leaned to her and kissed her with all my love and all my heart. I was elated. I couldn't believe my good fortune. When I had asked her, it sort of slipped out of my mouth when I heard that she went to limbo to bring my soul back. I knew that only your soul mate can call your soul back to it truly touched me.

"I'm so happy, Alessia. So happy. I've rarely been happy in my life and now surpasses all those times my about a million and twelve."

"Aww! That is just so touching!" I heard Ethan say. I had completely forgotten that there were other people in the room. Apparently, Alessia did too, because her face turned a shade of crimson.

I looked around the room at the others. Ethan was laughing almost hysterically. Matt was looking around uncomfortably. I knew how overprotective he was over his sister. I guess that it extended to his cousin too. Arkarian and Isabel were holding hands and smiling at each other. It was no secret that they couldn't wait until Isabel graduated from high school so they could get married as well.

"Well, there is no use just standing around here," Matt said uncomfortably.

"We really should get back," Arkarian said, tugging Isabel's hand. We all followed them out. I was still holding tight to Alessia's hand. She smiled up at me. My heart nearly burst with happiness. I couldn't believe how good things were going for me now that I had come back to earth.

That night I dreamed only of Alessia. I replayed her answer to my proposal over and over in my head. My subconscious formed an image of what our wedding might be like. And the honeymoon. Good lord the honeymoon. Like I said, that night, I dreamed only of Alessia. Until a certain restless spirit woke me up that is.

When I still lived on earth, being awoken in the night by spirits was a daily (or should I say nightly) experience. On planet Doom (as Less so kindly dubbed it), I grew pampered by not ever seeing ghosts because there weren't any. When I had come back to earth, it was a rude awakening to be followed around by things that weren't technically there.

I guess that was part of the reason I was dubbed cursed by my grandmother. (Alessia has recently convinced me that I should forgive her because she was ignorant and is now dead, which I recently found out. I should bury the hatchet, so to speak.) She would always see me talking to myself. I don't really know if she believed that I could talk to the dead or if she just thought that I was crazy. I guess that was also the reason she never took my out in public, she didn't want anyone to think that any relation of hers was crazy and deserved to me committed. For a while there myself, I thought I should have been committed. But that was back when I was really young and believed the lies she told me about myself. I don't think I really got over any of that until I was forced to watch Alessia for all those years. Not only did I watch her, but I studied her as well. She was so confident in herself despite her upbringing, so confident that she was right that she compromised her 'normal life' (as normal as any goddess' life can be) for what she believed in and never caved in. I knew (okay, I fantasized) that one day we would actually meet, and I wanted to be a man she could be proud of, someone she could trust and admire too.

A few moments later, I awoke in my bedroom that used to belong to Sera, Ethan's dead sister. Sitting up, I grasped for the glass of water that I customarily set next to my bed when I slept. In the darkness, I knocked it off the nightstand. Groaning, I waited for the glass to drop, swung my legs over the bed and prepared to get something to clean up the mess when I heard a giggle.

Quickly, I switched on the lamp. Sitting in the corner of the room was a girl about the age of nine or ten. I knew who she was because I had seen her picture hanging in the living room ever since I moved in with the Roberts. It was Sera I was seeing. "I wouldn't step down if I were you. The glass broke when it fell."

"I thought you moved on?" I asked the ghost, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Oh, I did, Gabriol. But ghosts (boy do I hate that word ever since I died!) can come and go as they please. Most of the time we go unnoticed except when there are people with exceptional powers, who can see us. People like you."

"Okay, Sera. Why have you come back to earth?" I asked, still groggy.

"I am hear to warn you of a great threat that is going to happen. Marduke," she said with disgust, "is still alive and out there, as I am sure you know. I have learned that he is after something so deadly, he can destroy the entire world with just the flick of his wrist. If he gets his hands on it that is."

"And what is this thing that Marduke is after?" I asked. She shuddered when I said his name.

"He is after something that was thought to be only a legend, only a myth. Something that the world hasn't seen in thousands of years."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

Sera's ghostly pale and transparent face became even more pale and transparent. Large sections of her middle began to blurt out, distorting her entire body. I became alarmed. She let out painful gasping sounds that rattled my own lungs. It was as if she was trying to breath but couldn't. Why on earth would a ghost have to breathe? I wondered.

"What is it?" I repeated, jumping up. Big mistake! My foot landed squarely on a huge chunk of glass. I let out a howl of pain.

Just as Sera's shimmering image disappeared, she screamed out two words. Words that thundered into my ears, colliding solidly with my brain. I flew back across the bad, my foot dripping blood. "Pandora's Box!" was the last thing I heard as my head collided with the headboard and I passed out.

Ooooh Cliffhanger! Sorry guys but I had to leave you wanting more! I would also like to say that there are some more GoT fics that are just awesome! You guys should read them! Simply splendid! I'd also like to say that I have Got poetry (by the same name) that I will be updating soon too.


	16. 15: Ethan

Author's Notes: Heres another chapter guys! Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 15: Ethan

When I came running down the hall after I heard Gabriol's screams, Dad came barreling down just behind me. We entered his room (that used to belong to Sera) and found him sprawled across his bed, unconscious with blood spurting from his foot.

"Oh, God, Dad! What do you think happened?" I asked as we rushed to his side.

"I don't know son," Dad said quietly, examining Gabriol's head. "But here's what I want you to do. Inside you're head I want you to scream Arkarian's name really loud. He will hear you. Then just as loud, tell him to contact everyone and have them meet in his chambers. Then call Matt's name the same way and tell him to bring over Isabel. There is no telling how badly he's really damaged. Finally, I want you to call Alessia's name really loud and tell her to get over hear."

I did as Dad told me. Arkarian, I shouted in my mind. We, that is Ethan and my dad, need you to contact everyone and have them gather in you chambers immediately. Matt! Bring Isabel over to my house a-sap! We need her now! Finally, I shouted to Alessia. Alessia! We need you to get over hear now! Gabriol's been hurt and we don't know why or how!

A second later, Alessia and Neriah appeared into Gabriol's bedroom. Alessia rushed to his side. "What happened?" she asked, silent tears streaming down her face.

"We don't know," I replied quietly. "We just heard him scream and then a loud thud. We came in here and he was unconscious."

Dad checked the windows of Gab's bedroom. They were shut and perfectly intact. Next he went and checked the front doors and the entire bottom floor windows. When re-entered the room, he said, "There isn't any sign of forced entry. The front door was locked and so were all the windows."

A moment later, Arkarian appeared. "What has happened?" he asked.

"We don't know," I said softly.

He took a look at him. "It appears that he was thrown across the bed. When his head hit the headboard, he passed out. The cut on his foot appears to be from the broken glass. Which doesn't make sense because you'd think the tossing would break the glass. Unless he dropped the glass, stepped on it, and then was thrown," he mused, obviously unaware that he was talking aloud. "Any possibility of a break-in?"

"No. I just checked. All the doors and windows are intact and locked," Dad said to him.

We all sat in silence for the next few minutes, waiting for Isabel and Matt. Arkarian pulled the glass out of Gab's foot and Dad tried to stem the bleeding. I propped his head up with pillows, realizing that he had a cut on the back of his head that we were unaware of too. I held a bandage to his head to try and stop the bleeding there as well, but was careful not to hurt his head.

A moment later, Isabel came crashing through the door. "What's wrong!" she gasped.

"It's Gabriol," Alessia said through her tears.

Isabel ran toward him. I showed her his head wound, but she healed his foot first because it was bleeding the worst. Once that was healed, she worked on his head. She healed the head wound but he still didn't awaken.

"I think that some of us should clear out and wait in my chambers," Arkarian said. Dad nodded. "Everyone but Isabel, Ethan, Alessia and myself."

Dad, Neriah and Matt were gone a second later. Less continued to hold his hand, shaking slightly. I walked up to her and put my arm around her shoulder. "He's going to be okay Less. Gab's become like a brother to me and I won't let him die. Besides, we have Isabel, the world's greatest healer, with us. I know that you and Gab have been through a lot in the last eight hours, but you got through it before and you'll get through it again. Just think, you have a wedding to play." She gave me an appreciative smile and wiped away her tears.

I don't know what I would do if this had happened to Rochelle. After that vision I had, I've been so worried about losing her. Admittedly, I wouldn't mind marrying her now, even though we're so young. Gosh, I really wish she was here with me to comfort each other.

Suddenly, a single word fell from Gabriol's lips: Sera.

"Sera?" I repeated. "What has this got to do with Sera?" I asked Arkarian, standing to face him.

"I don't know," he replied in a quiet voice. I saw Isabel squeeze his hand. He smiled at her.

It was about another hour until Gabriol actually woke up. His sapphire eyes popped open, unfocused. "Sera?" he asked. I thought his brain was rattled.

"No sweetie, it's Alessia," she whispered, grasping him in her arms. He wrapped his arms around her body too.

"Alessia," he said smiling, brushing his fingers gently across her face.

"Are you okay?" I asked Gab.

"I think so," he said, sitting up with Alessia's help.

After a minute of two of trying to remember exactly what had happened, he told us how Sera had awoken him and told him about a terrible evil that Marduke was after. At the sound of Marduke's name, both Alessia and I tensed up.

"Did she say what he was after?" Isabel asked.

"Yeah. At some point, I was surprised by one of her comments and stood up real fast, cutting my foot on the glass that I dropped. I think I yelled. She started acting as if she was being pulled away from this plane and had to shout the name in my head. I think that was what threw me across the bed, knocking me out. I think that it was the force of her words inside of my head."

"Well, what was the thing she said," I asked, eager to hear anything about my sister.

"She said that Marduke (again both Less and I shuddered) was after Pandora's Box."

"Pandora's Box?" Arkarian asked, looking up sharply. Standing up sharply, he practically shouted, "WE CANNOT LET THE ORDER GET PARDORA'S BOX!"

"What's going on?" I heard Mom ask from the hall.

Sorry guys, another cliffy!


	17. 16: Gabriol

Chapter 16: Gabriol

"Uh, nothings going on Mom," Ethan said quickly. "Gabriol just fell out of bed. He had another nightmare."

"Okay," Ethan's Mom called from the hallway. "I'm going back to bed. You two should too."

"We will in a minute."

"That was close," I said, taking a deep breath, and trying to sit up. It made me extremely dizzy.

"Take it easy," Alessia whispered in my ear. She wrapped her arms around me and gently kissed my forehead. It felt so good, like everything was finally right in the world. For just a moment, I forgot about the ghostly visit I had just received and about the ominous threat against the world. I just wanted to lie in Alessia's arms forever, listening to her sing softly in my ears.

"I think we should get back to my chambers," Arkarian said. I could tell that he was anxious about something. And then it all came rushing back; Sera's visit and Marduke's threats.

"Alessia," he said in a strained, yet calm, voice. She nodded her head as if she understood. "Just cover your tracks so the Order doesn't detect anything, okay?"

She nodded again. Standing up, her eyes took a far-off dreamy look. The room started spinning, gently at first and then a little more aggressively. I could literally _feel_ time rushing past us. I knew what she was doing. She was making the hours pass more quickly. I'd felt this before when we were living on the planet Doom, I just never really knew what it was before until now. The spinning subsided.

"Okay, you two get ready and get to the mountain as quickly as possible," Arkarian said. I knew that he didn't want us to worry Ethan's mom. Alessia quickly kissed me on the lips and then vanished, just like the others.

I glanced at the clock. It was eight o'clock in the morning. "We should get started," Ethan said. "The others are going to be anxious as it is."

I quickly got dressed and waited out in the hallway. The dizziness had subsided and I felt a lot better. Ethan came out a moment later, carrying a large bow in his hands.

"My weapon from the 'final battle,' " he said with the little quoties. "Some final battle."

"I heard that the prophecy changes all the time. I wonder what it says now," I said, voicing my thoughts.

"That's a good idea. We should get down there and see what it says. What with you and Alessia joining us and Rochelle _not_ dying like in Isabel's vision, it has bound to change."

The two of us made our way to Arkarian's mountain as quickly as possible. Once inside, Alessia rushed back into my arms, holding me tightly. I saw Rochelle do the same to Ethan, her looking just as anxious as Alessia.

We joined the circle and sat down. Arkarian, leaning foreword, said, "Gabriol, can you tell us again what exactly happened."

I nodded, starting the story of Sera's visit once again. I told them everything, about her threats and about how it was like she was sucked from the room.

"That is really strange," Matt mumbled.

"Yes it is."

"What should we do?" Dillon asked. I looked over at him. His face was pale and his eyes were baggy from sleep deprivation.

"Gabriol had a good idea, a place to start," Ethan began. "He thinks that we should go down and re-read the prophecy. I think that it is a really good idea. Besides, the flood down there has to be gone by now."

"That is a good idea. We'll organize a party to go down later today. We can't let the Order find out the new prophecy."

"Ahh!" Isabel gasped, falling off her chair and onto the floor. It was so sudden and none of us were expecting it that we all just stood there for a moment. After a few minutes, her face decontorted and turned back to normal.

"There's going to be an attack on the school! Tomorrow, I think!" she said, her chest heaving, her lungs gasping for air.

"What!" Ethan and Dillon said at the same time, both standing up.

"Yeah," she said, regaining her breath. "Demons."

"Demons?" Alessia asked. "Are you sure? What did they look like?"

"I'm not even really sure why I called them demons. The name just sprang to my head. They were big brown beasts. Extremely ugly with large-"

"Horns on top of their heads!" Alessia said, cutting Isabel off.

"Yes! How did you know?" she asked her.

"My father breeds them at the castle. Well, at least I know he did up until I was sent away. But it's been sixteen years, who knows what he does with them now."

"Wait, you've seen these things before?" Matt asked, catching on.

_"Yes Matt. That is what I'm saying!"_ Alessia said, growing annoyed. Clearly, these things distressed her.

"No, what I mean is, you know their weaknesses, there strengths."

"Oh yes of course I do!" she said, realizing what he was getting at. "I know all about them. My parents used to thing it was funny to throw me into a pit of them and let them have their way with me."

Poor Alessia, I thought. Neither of us had grown up in happy homes, but at least it wasn't my own parents that hated me.

"Yes, if the demon's horn touches you, you will die a very painful death. And death is certain. There isn't an antidote for their venom. It will kill you."

"Do they have any weaknesses?" Arkarian asked, deep in thought.

"Oh, sure. They hate bright light. That's why Marduke kept them in an underground cave. It's because the demons thrive on darkness."

"That's perfect. We have Isabel!" Matt said excitedly.

"Matt, you forget. I can see in the dark with just and smidgen of light, but I can't produce light."

"Oh," Matt said, crestfallen.

"Well," Alessia said, realizing something. "It the demons are going to attack you at your school, then Marduke will have to do something to make it dark. We will just have to arm you with a large amount of light then."

"Yes!" Arkarian said standing up. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. Dillon, Shaun, Neriah, and Rochelle, I want you guys to dig up anything you can of Pandora's Box and on any kind of demons."

"I remember what they're called," Alessia said excitedly. "_Ominoch_!"

"Okay, find anything you can on Pandora's Box and the _Ominoch._ I want Gabriol, Ethan, Jimmy, and Isabel to go translate the new prophecy. Alessia, Matt, and I will stay here and work on a plan. We'll also have to go to the Athens to talk to Dartimus. I want everyone to meek back here at around nine o'clock tonight with anything you've found out, okay. Everyone, got it?" he asked. A chorus of yes's filled the room.


	18. 17: Ethan

**Another chapter up! Yeah!**

Chapter 17: Ethan

Going down to read the prophecy was sure different this time than the last two times that I've been down here. For one, things have started growing down here ever since the flood. Nasty things, that is. Like mold. Gabriol says that isn't the deadly kind of mold, thank gosh for that. I'm not going to even ask how he knows that it isn't the deadly kind of mold, I just plain do not want to know.

It also smelled really bad down there. Sewer bad. Toilet bad.

We get down to the prophecy without a hitch. Having Jimmy with us, the very one who set up the traps is very convenient. I am so glad that Arkarian thought we should have him with us. Jimmy knows all the little tricks to get through the traps like that, I mean, he knows how to deactivate them. Like the red and blue laser beams, for instance. He just waved his hands over them and they disappeared. It was nice seeing Isabel's jaw drop like that. Quite hilarious actually.

When we finally got to the prophecy wall, it was extremely pleasant to see that it was completely dry. I don't know how it was dry, but I am sure not complaining about it.

Even without the translation, I could see that the prophecy had changed from the last time I had seen it. We had the decoder with us so it should have been a sitch. But, as fate would have it, the code had changed as well.

"What should we do?" Isabel asked.

"I think that we should just copy down what had been written and take it back with us. I don't think we should linger here very long," Jimmy said. I quite agreed with him about it too. Something didn't feel right. I was glad we had our weapons with us, but it didn't feel right because Gabriol didn't have anything to protect himself with.

I am the one who jots down the new prophecy. Because of my power of animation, I can quickly recall it and transform it before my eyes if I need to. Once I'm done copying down the gibberish words, that currently mean nothing to me, I hear a loud noise over my left shoulder. Everyone else hears it too.

Suddenly, a boy and girl emerge, clearly members of the Order. They run at us, mumbling something under their breaths. A burst of lightning erupts from the girl's fingertips and it sends Gabriol flying backwards. Will no one give him a break lately?

He's apparently unhurt because he gets back up and stands in a fighting position. Something about the way he stands feels deadly. I know that he used to be in the Order, which means he was trained by evil. In all honesty, I would bet my life that he wasn't evil though.

"Armand!" the girl spats. I've heard that name before. It's what Dillon called Gabriol when they first saw each other in Arkarian's chambers. I knew that Lathania re-named all of her Ordersmen. Armand must be Gabriol's Order name.

"Such a traitor!" the boy shouts at Gabriol. "The Goddess would be so disappointed. You were once so loyal!"

"The Goddess is dead!" Gabriol shouts back at him. "And I am not a traitor. I am right where I belong. With the Guard."

I see something snap in the already twisted eyes of the Order followers. They charge at us. Gabriol grabs the lantern from off of the ground, screws off the glass and brings it in front of his face. As the Order members close in around him, he takes a deep breath and lets it out, aiming it at the Order. A huge gust of fire, far bigger than the one that the lantern contained, bursts out, catching the girl's hair on fire. She shrieks, running around, trying to put it out.

The boy keeps running towards us. Once I see his face, I immediately recognize him. He's in the same grade as me. "Michael?" I ask.

He stops dead in his tracks, surprised by my sudden speech. "Ethan?" he asks.

"I had no idea that you were mixed up with the Order," I said, everything still processing in my brain.

"Or you in the Guard," he said with a vehement shrug.

The girl's screaming increases. Everyone turns to look at her. Michael uses this to his advantage. While we weren't looking, he jumps on Isabel, pulling out a knife and laying on her throat.

"The Order is clearly outnumbered here," he whispers.

I glance around, thinking of what I should do. Gabriol is two steps ahead of Jimmy and I. He vanishes into thin air, using his power of invisibility to disappear.

"Is this how it's going to be Armand?" Michael says wildly, turning in every direction. The girl comes rushing at us. I string my bow and take aim. A moment later, she is lying on the ground, dead.

Michael suddenly falls to the ground, writhing in pain. During his fall, he releases Isabel. She jumps away. We watch as Michael's back erupts with blood.

Gabriol rematerializes. Isabel rushes foreword and gives him a hug. "Thank you," she whispers. "Thank you for saving my life."

"Of course."

"So, what should we do with him?" I asked, pointing to Michael.

Jimmy speaks up. "We should take him with us, question him once we get to Athens."

"I'll never tell you anything!" Michael spits out. "Never!"

"Oh, we have our ways to get you to talk," Jimmy said quietly, chilling my bones. I think that Michael felt it too, because he shut up fast.

"We should grab her body too," I said, thinking ahead. "We don't want the Order to find her dead.

"Good idea," Jimmy said. "She might be useful as well."

I walk up to the girl's body. Instantly, I recognize her face too. Her name was Kaitlyn and she was in my English class for the past two years.

Jimmy and Gabriol tied Michael up. I formed a sort to dragging stretcher for the girl's body. Isabel and I drug the girl's body and Gabriol and Jimmy forced Michael walk, holding a knife out and ready. We had Isabel heal his wound before we left, just so he wouldn't bleed to death before we had a chance to interrogate him.

We made our way through the ancient city. We had blindfolded Michael just in case.

Once we reached outside, we drug him the rest of the way to Arkarian's chambers. Once we arrived there, the stone wall opened and we walked inside.

"Arkarian!" Jimmy yelled. Arkarian, Matt, and Alessia, the three cousins, emerged at once. All three of their jaws dropped simultaneously.

"What happened?" Matt asked, eyeing the tied up Michael and the dead Kaitlyn.

"We were attacked," Isabel said, dropping her side of the stretcher. I did the same.

"I see that," Alessia said, joining Gabriol as his side. She quickly kissed him. "Are you hurt?" she asked me, touching the blood on his shirt from when he stabbed Michael.

"Oh, no I'm fine," he said, so not worry her. I know she had been worrying a lot lately, what with the constant threats to his life and all. She waved her hand over his shirt. The blood vanished.

After a few minutes, Matt and Arkarian decided to take Michael and Kaitlyn to Athens. They returned shortly after. "We put him in a high security cell. King Richard is interrogating him right now."

I nod. Pulling out the slip of paper that contained the new prophecy. Alessia saw it and took it from my hands. "I know this language," she said studying it. "It's the ancient tongue, Elvish. I could translate it in a second."

Her eyes quickly scanned it. Waving her hands over it, the letters rearranged themselves into modern English. As I read the new prophecy, my jaw dropped in shock. As did everyone else's.

**OOOHHH! Cliffhanger! (Sorry guys, but I had too!) I'll try to update again really soon, maybe tonight or tomorrow.**


	19. 18: Alessia

**Here's a new chapter. I hope that you enjoy it.**

Chapter 18: Alessia

Once nine, now eleven number the Named

As the Daughter of Chaos and the accursed one

Come forth from a wold of darkness

New powers and visions of the future

Shall aid the Guard's attempts to restore the balance

Yet will it be enough?

Death will come back to pay a visit

Warning of a most ancient evil

The beastly one will want revenge

By taking back the two who should matter most

Now a good friend shall fall to save his ten

But Guard, do not get discouraged,

You still have rolls to fill

The five gods shall do battle against

A force you know not of

The advantage is not obvious

One long-thought gone shall return, beware

A family shall do was against one another

Destroying an ancient legacy

The fate of the world rests in you powerful hands, dear Guard

I stared at the piece of paper in my hand with wonder as the others digested its ominous contents. I had read the original prophecy so many times, it became engraved inside my head, but this new prophecy was unlike anything else I had ever read. So strange, it was.

"Branched out a bit, don't you think," Matt asked. His was the first voice to speak in a few minutes and it filled the silent room with a disturbing echo.

"Yes, it sure has," Isabel said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"It's almost as if it's meant towards us, like a warning. It's so different from the last prophecy," Ethan said in an equally as quiet voice.

"Some of this has already begun," I said, barely audible. Everyone's gaze left the paper and landed on my face.

_"What?"_ Dillon asked. "I don't get it."

"Just look," I said, making a large sweeping motion with my arm. The entire prophecy appeared before our eyes in large, blood red letters. "There were nine original Named. Now there are eleven of us. Carter abandoned the Guard and Rochelle didn't die. It says '_the Daughter of Chaos and the accursed one come forth from a world of darkness.' _We know that already happened when you came to rescue me and Gabriol hitched a ride as well," I said, smiling warmly at me soul mate. He grinned back, then planted a light kiss on my cheek. It sent tingles down my spin.

"Yeah, but what about the rest of this stuff?" Dillon asked, persistent as ever.

"Well, it says '_new powers and visions of the future.' _Ethan got a new power, the gift of implanting thought and ideas into people's minds," I continued.

"But powers is plural, as in more than one power shall be developed," he said excitedly.

"Gabriol, you controlled that fire down in Veridian," I said, snapping my fingers, for I had seen that too, through Gabriol's eyes. "Have you always been able to control fire?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I saw the lantern and the idea to use the fire just popped into my head. I didn't really control it, did I?"

"Yeah, man, you did. I saw you. That flame was about the size of a pea and you sent it flying into that girl's face. The flame grew at least twenty times the size that it originally was. You controlled it," Ethan said.

A slow smile swept across Gabriol's face, right up to his navy eyes, crinkling the corners of them.

"Back to the prophecy," Dillon snapped. "You two can schmooze on your own time."

_" 'Death will come back to pay a visit, warning of a most ancient evil.' _That happened already, too, when Sera came back and warned Gabriol about Pandora's Box."

"What about the rest of it then?"

"Well it says _'The beastly one will want revenge by taking back the two who should matter most.' _Clearly, it's talking about my father, Marduke. He is a beast, thanks to Shaun and Ethan," I said, giving them both appreciative smiles. "Neriah and I are the ones who should matter most. We're his daughters but he doesn't really love us the way a father is supposed to love his children. So he's going to take his revenge on the Guard out through us," I said matter-of-factly.

" _'Now a good friend shall fall to save his ten.'_ This one is obvious. Someone in this room is going to die," I said, barely above a whisper, a tear rolling down my cheek.

Everyone goes silent. Only the light whirling of Arkarian's past sphere could be heard above everyone's labored breathing.

"It says _'his ten.'_ That means the one that's going to die is going to be male," Matt said with the same pained expression that everyone else was wearing.

I slowly nod, wanting to move on to the next part of the prophecy. " _'But Guard, do not get discouraged, you still have rolls to fill. The five gods-_"

"Wait a second. _Five gods?_ We only have three," Dillon said, his voice dripping with exasperation.

"There's Dartimus," said Matt. I nod. My uncle Dartimus.

"But that's still only four."

"Gabriol," Arkarian said softly, as if he was merely thinking but voicing his thoughts aloud.

_"What!" _Gabriol exclaims. "I'm not a god!"

"Yes, but you _are_ Alessia's soul mate. Neriah wasn't a goddess but they made her into one so she and Matt could be together just like they gave Isabel the gift of never aging so she and Arkarian could be together," Ethan pointed out.

Arkarian replied, "It is in the prophecy, Gabriol. You are meant to be a god."

"But...when?" Gabriol asked.

"At our wedding," I said lowly, with a small grin on my face.

I wasn't sure if it had yet occurred to Gabriol about our life style differences, (pointedly, I would live forever and he would die within the next sixty years.) but it had occurred to me. I was going to ask Uncle Dartimus if he could turn me into a human so we could be together because a life without Gabriol is too unbearable to think of, let alone and eternity.

"At our wedding," he repeated, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me towards him.

"Will you fucking stop that!" Dillon screamed. "The fate of the world is in our hands and all you two can think about is your stupid lust for each other. All of you! Ethan and Rochelle. Matt and Neriah. Arkarian and Isabel. _Alessia and Gabriol!_ That's all you do! Cuddle and kiss and play hanky-panky while Shaun, Jimmy and I sit back and take it! Well I'm not going to take it anymore. I going to explode!"

Like you're not already, I thought, bringing Gabriol closer to me. I knew that Dillon was angry because he was the only person in this room without a significant other, but I also had a feeling that he liked me. I sensed it the first time I saw him in person. Something behind his eyes told me that he wished that he were in Gabriol's place. No, that he was Gabriol.

"Dillon," Arkarian said, trying to calm him down.

After taking a deep breath and letting it slowly out, he said, "I know guys. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I blew up on you. Less, will you go on with the prophecy now, please?"


	20. 19: Lilyana

Chapter 19: Lilyana

Yet another new school, I thought viciously. God, I really hate moving. Ever since I could remember, we were always running away from something, yet I never knew what exactly it was. Every time that I would ask, mother would always tell me not to worry about it, that she'd tell me it all when I was older. I think that I am older now, though, being seventeen and all. The only thing that I really remember that could have anything to do with all our moving was when I was six and we were staying in Sydney.

On a hot day in June, Mom and I went out for a walk. We arrived at a park and I played in the sandbox for nearly a half an hour when Mom said we had to get home right away, something didn't feel right. We practically ran the entire way home. At one point, Mom picked me up and carried me, trying her hardest to run as fast as she could. When we got home, the front door was flung open and my father was lying there dead, a long blade protruding from his chest.

Nothing was ever the same after that.

Every night for the past eleven years, I see my father's image, just lying there on the floor, all ready starting to smell. It was years later that I noticed something strange about my dream, my memories.

The blade that was stuck in his chest wasn't like anything that I had ever seen before. It was ancient looking with diamonds, rubies and pearls encrested along the hilt. The silver was tarnished and looked as if it had recently been cleaned for the first time in centuries.

I began researching, looking at all sorts of ancient weaponry. This started when I was thirteen, yet it wasn't until I was sixteen that I found exactly what I was looking for. The sword was dated back to medieval Britain, owned by the Duke of Drakeland, a city that had fallen to the French in 1328 and was disbanded not long after.

Researching the Duke of Drakeland was sure enlightening to say the least.

I discovered that he was a greedy man with a passion for precious metals and stones. Raul Albait was his name. The Duke was married several times and produced several heirs, legitimate and not. He was the type of ruler who would do anything to satisfy his greed while his people went hungry, begging in the streets. I also read that he was extremely abusive and had a thing for young girls, and when I say young, I mean young, like ten or eleven year olds. His second wife, Duchess Mary Kile, even hung herself because she couldn't take his abuse anymore. He was second cousin to the King of England and third to the King of France. His cousin, King Edourd of France was so disgusted with his relative's greed, that he sent an army there to capture him and brought him back to the castle, where he spent the rest of his life in the dungeons, until one day he vanished completely and was never heard from again.

Why would a sword from the 1300s be found in my father's chest in modern-day Australia? was a question that I frequently asked myself. My mom never did know about all the research I've done on trying to find out about my roving lifestyle and my father's murder.

After I discovered the origin of the weapon, I slowed down in my investigation. Well, slowing down isn't exactly the right word. My investigation came to a complete stop after that. Since then, I haven't found out anything else about either. Every day, I question my mom as to what she knows about Dad and out lifestyle. And every day she breaks down crying, saying she'll tell me when I'm older.

I don't even think she notices how old I've gotten. After Dad's death, she shut out everything in her life, even me. The only thing that she continues still to do is move. In the last year, we've lived in six different houses in six different towns. I've always been home schooled before, but I told Mom that in the next town we moved, she would enter me into a real-life high school. She just cried and pleaded with me to stay at home with her, but I said no. After the most heated argument we've had in the past five years, or ever for that matter, she relented and now, tomorrow, I will get to got to a normal school for the first time and be a normal girl, well at least as normal as I can be, being able to shapeshift into anything that I want and banish things. Like that one guy that tried to mug me last year in Olympia.

Never did I have the chance to make friends. Never have I been close to anyone. And never have I had a boyfriend. I'm a freak, hands down, no doubt about it.

I've never had a normal life, which is the one thing I've always longed for. Hopefully, now I will.

That morning, I woke up and hurriedly pulled on my clothes, brushing my dark brown hair and putting contacts into my light blue eyes. Then I put on a minimal amount of makeup because people always told me that I was a natural beauty and didn't really need any anyway. I put some on anyway because I knew that girls in high school wore it.

I slammed down my bookbag, with all my new notebooks and folders and pencils and pens. It still didn't get a reaction from Mom. "Well, I'm leaving now," I said, hopeful that she'd actually look at me. She didn't. "I'm going to take the car to school," I said. That had to get a reaction out of her, I'd just gotten my licensee two days ago so I could drive our car while Mom drove the moving van.

Mom didn't even blink her eyes.

I took that as a yes, grabbed the car keys from off of the counter and walked outside slowly, waiting for Mom to tell me to stop. She didn't.

It wasn't hard to find Angel Falls High, the town wasn't very big. I pulled around into the student parking lot and parked. Getting out of the car, I straightened the skirt I was wearing, which was a part of the uniform required at AFHS. I could see students milling about, sitting on car hoods and picnic benches. I put my backpack on my back and walked toward the front door, holding my head high. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I walked in the building. These kids have probably all known each other since they were babies and here I am, the new girl.

God, I feel as if I have a huge label on my forehead that says: Look at me! I'm new! I really hate my life.

**Author's Notes: Sorry that it's been so long for me to update, but never fear because it is finally summer vacation and now I'll have plenty of time to write. I introduced another new character. Her name is Lilyana Legacy. I hope you all enjoy her. I think that she is more of someone we can all relate too. She's more cynical that the other characters and is a woman on a mission.**


	21. 20: Lilyana

**Author's Notes: Jeez, I am really sorry that it took so long for me to update. I found a flaw in my story and had to go back and re-write the rest of the outline and even write some of the future parts just to make sure that it fit. I am happy so say that my story is now moving on smoothly and should be updated a lot more often. Thanks!**

Chapter 20: Lilyana

The first day at a new school is always...interesting. No, I'm not sure if interesting is the word for it. Enlightening, maybe.

But I hadn't expected this.

I was walking to the front door when a girl with long black hair and green eyes whispered to a handsome boy with blue eyes and dark hair, "Oh my God! She's one of us!"

"I know," he replied, gazing me over. It made me a little uncomfortable. I mean, he wasn't looking at me in a sexual way or anything. The girl that had just spoken was clearly his girlfriend. They were holding hands and standing awfully close to one another. No, he was looking at me as if he was sizing up the competition or judging someone that was about to be joining a group and was trying to determine if they were what's right for the group.

"Hi, I'm Rochelle Thallimar," the girl said, sticking out her hand to me, which I shook. Her smile was warm and inviting. Finally someone out of all my schools is actually nice to me without having to have the misfortune of meeting me first!

"Lilyana Legacy," I replied with a smile.

"And I'm Ethan Roberts," the boy said, also sticking his hand out. I shook it too. He appeared a lot friendlier now that his girlfriend apparently approved of me.

"So you're new," Rochelle began.

"Yeah," I said somewhat shyly. God, this wasn't how I normally acted! There was just something about these two people that was…different. Not in a strange way but more of a mystical way, I guess.

"Well, don't worry at all," she began. "I was new a few years ago and I made friends fairly quickly. Just stick with us and you'll be okay." I nodded, smiling at the couple.

"Oy! Isabel, Matt, Neriah!" Ethan called, waving over three kids that were about our age. The three quickly walked over. Ethan introduced the three newcomers. Isabel and Matt had the same last name and also looked a lot alike; I could tell that they were brother and sister. Neriah was very beautiful and was holding Matt's hand. Ah, another couple in this happy school.

The five in the group that I was with quickly showed me around the school before the first bell rang. I then went to the office with Rochelle. She kissed Ethan on the cheek and told him that she'd meet him in first period.

"Come on!" she said happily. I entered the office with her and quickly got all of my paperwork filled out and was given a schedule. "Hey, you have class with all of us, that's great."

We walked to first period together, which was just starting. Matt, Ethan, and another boy that I didn't recognize were all sitting together. Rochelle quickly informed me that Isabel and Neriah were a grade lower than we were. We joined the three boys.

Immediately, something felt strange. The strange boy looked up at me and our eyes locked. It felt as if I had been struck by lightening; strong currents of tingling shocks shot through me rooting me to the spot. His eyes were beautiful, a vivid green and his hair was the color of chocolate. I could tell that he was tall even while he was sitting down.

"Hey, Lilyana, this is Dillon Sinclair. He's….oh, I get it!" Matt said all-knowingly; clearly thinking the he knew something that I did not.

"Hi, Lilyana," Dillon said breathlessly. "Lilyana, what a beautiful name."

I blushed profusely at his statement.

"You can sit down, Lil," Ethan said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, sit over here," Dillon said, pulling up another chair beside himself. I walked over and sat down next to him. Despite the tingling running through my body, I felt suddenly at ease with this group of strangers.

Obviously, we didn't get anything done that period.

I sat with them at lunch that day, too. Isabel and Neriah joined us again. I opened up with them as I have with no one else before, telling them of the moving and of my father's murder. Neriah said the she could relate to the moving and Rochelle quietly said she knows how it was to have a parent murdered.

One by one, they told me their own stories. Tears ran down my face as Ethan told me how his sister was murdered by Neriah's dad and how his parents fell into a deep depression and ignored him for many years. Neriah told me of how her mutilated father chased after her and her mother for years and how she recently discover that she had a half sister. That half sister turned out to be cousins with Matt and her boyfriend that had the oddest name I've heard for a while, Arkarian. Rochelle told me in greater detail how her father killed her mother and went to prison and how she them moved in with her step mother that she got along well with. When Dillon told me of how his parents ignored him and announced their divorce on his eighth birthday, I had tears in my eyes for this boy that I just met but had all ready intense feelings for.

Wow, what a twisted group! No wonder they all stuck together. They seemed content with each other and at ease with the past. The sad thing was that I fit right in with them.

I heard Isabel whisper to Matt and Ethan, "I think that we should take her to meet Arkarian. He should know she's one of us."

Again, a red flag went up in my mind. They kept saying that I was one of them. How was I one of them? I wondered. What, because I, too, grew up in a broken home. That was about the only thing that they seemed to have in common. That and the weird, supernatural vibes that I was getting from them.

I met them all outside after school, just like I'd promised. I knew Mom wouldn't even notice if I wasn't home. And if she did, she'd just cry or ignore it all together.

"Come with us, Lilyana," Rochelle said happily, taking me by the hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked, slightly intimidated.

"To Arkarian's," Dillon said from my other side. He was walking so near me that it was hard to concentrate.

"To Isabel's boyfriend's?" I asked. "Why would we be going there?"

"You'll see," Isabel said with a dopey, lovesick grin on her face.

We walked for a good twenty minutes up trails that led to the mountains. It was really peaceful and an all-together beautiful sight.

From behind me I heard Matt and Ethan snickering. "Why, Dillon, you have been exceptionally quiet today. I wonder why that could be?" they taunted playfully. I could tell that these three had been friends for a long time by the way they interacted. The girls were all newer to the group, except for maybe Isabel, who probably played the pesky little sister role.

"We're almost there," Rochelle sang.

I saw that we were coming to a stop at the side of one of the mountains. "What's going on? I thought we were going to Arkarian's house?" I asked.

Instead, a huge hole erupted in the side of the mountain. The others began walking inside. I remember screaming and running before these freaks caught up with me.

**Author's Notes: I hope that everyone has enjoyed this chapter. It was nice to write about someone outside of the Guard, though she will soon be in the Guard and will begin her training. Please review! I would appreciate it very much!**

**Morgan **


	22. 21: Lilyana

**Authors' Notes: Sorry guys! This chapter is kind of short but I had to cut it off when I did for purposes of the story. I hope that you enjoy it anyway.**

Chapter 21: Lilyana

What was the matter with these people? I shouted in my head as I walked, no ran, away. I heard Rochelle chuckle from behind me. I was a kind of laugh you give when you actually hear the joke, but she didn't hear the joke. And it wasn't really a joke, either. _Maybe she can read minds!_ That thought just shot through my mind.

"Oh, Ethan, stop it. Just because you have a new power doesn't mean you can you use it on unsuspecting people," Rochelle said.

_Powers?_ What the hell? These people must be crazy!

I heard someone come after me. There was only one voice right now that I would stop for. And he was right behind me. "Lilyana," he said quietly. My feet stopped in place.

He came around so he was standing right in front of me, his hand resting on my shoulder. "Lilyana, listen to me."

"No! That was just too weird!" I shouted. Then I turned around and walked back to the others, Dillon following behind me. "Oh, now I get it! This is a welcome to the school initiation or something! What was that? Pyrotechnics? Because if it was, it was really good. You know, when I met you guys, I thought that this school would be different! I thought we were becoming friends!"

Rochelle looked stricken. "Lilyana, we are your friends. It's just that we know something about you that you don't yet know. Come with us and we'll show you that we're sincere."

Something in her voice told me that she at least was sincere. I wanted to believe her, I really did. But it was just that I had been burned too many times in my old schools by other students. I didn't really know what to think.

It was Dillon that finally swayed me. "Please come with us, Lilyana. Soon, you'll know the truth. About everything and about why there have been so many bizarre things that have happened to you in the past." I had been trying to find out about the past for so long now, that I would have done just about anything.

"Well, okay," I said, letting him take my hand and leading me into the giant hole in the wall.

"It'll be okay, Lilyana. I swear that it will," Rochelle reassured me. I merely nodded, not knowing what to do exactly.

They soon led me to a wide-open room. A few others were sitting in the room on wooden chairs. I also noticed that some of the people were adults and a few people in their early twenties and a guy with wild blue hair. _Who the hell are these people?_

"Ethan's dad Shaun," Rochelle said pointing at one of the adults with dark brown hair like his son's. "And this is Jimmy," she said pointing at the other adult with dark hair and green eyes.

"And Gabriol," Dillon said pointing at one of the twenty year old guy. He had black hair and green eyes as well. I could tell that Gabriol and Dillon were friends from way back as well. "And his fiancé, Alessia." This time he pointed at the other twenty-year-old, who was breathtaking and ethereal. Her hair was flaming red and her eyes were emerald. She looked like an ornament to be kept on the shelf, but just by looking at her, I could tell that she was fierce.

"And Arkarian," Isabel finished, pointing at her boyfriend. Upon closer look, I saw that his eyes were violet. It was his initial appearance that startled me, but I quickly grew used to him.

"And this is-" Dillon started to say but got cut off.

"Lilyana Legacy," Alessia finished. "Yes, I foresaw you coming. You're more powerful than I expected."

"Umm…" I said, but that was as far as I got.

"She doesn't _know_ yet," Rochelle explained to the others.

"Oh! Of course!" Arkarian said standing up. Seven more chairs appeared out of thin air. The other six sat down in them but I just stood there.

"Is it safe?" I whispered.

Arkarian chuckled. "Oh, yes, it's perfectly safe. Please, sit down." So I did.

"Now, where to begin. Well, first off, I should tell you that I am nearly nine hundred years old." My jaw dropped. He didn't look a day over eighteen! "Yes," he continued. "That's because I stopped aging when I was eighteen."

I looked around the group for confirmation. Rochelle and Ethan both nodded.

"And Alessia, Matt, and Neriah are Immortals," he added. Because my jaw was all ready down as far as it could go, it remained in place.

He began telling me about these organizations called the Guard and the Order. They were all member of the Guard and were trying to stop the Order from re-writing history. He went on and told me how they each had some kind of ability that…wasn't normal and told me of the prophecy and about the Final Battle. Shaun added about how the Order was renewing its efforts even though the Immortal brother and sister was dead.

My head was spinning throughout the entire story. "But what has this got to do with me?" I whispered.

"Everything," Alessia said suddenly. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a piece of paper. "This is the new prophecy," she explained, handing it to me. I read through it quickly. The words _destroying an ancient legacy_ popped out in my mind. "Legacy," she said. "Don't you guys see? Lilyana is related to this somehow. I think that she is the key to destroying the ancient Legacy!"

"You think that the legacy is a person?" Matt asked incredulously. She nodded.

"Lilyana, do you know of anyone in your family that was in any way magical?" she asked. I shook my head. But I did go on to explain about my father's murder and our constant moving in far greater detail. "Someone in the Order is destroying her family. Lilyana, we have to protect you."

**Author's Notes: Ohh, cliffhanger!**


	23. 22: Lilyana

**Author's Notes: I am so, so sorry that it's taken me this long to update my story. I know many of you have moved on to other fanfics by now, but hopefully you'll take to this one again. Again, i apologize for the wait. I will be updating much more frequently now and will get the next chapter up soon. I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 22: Lilyana

After a bit more convincing (and a few meaningful looks on Dillon's part), I finally believed them. I had always been desperately seeking an answer to everything that's happened to me in my life and, I don't know, what they said was an answer, even if it was a little far-fetched by most standards.

They decided to take my mom and me into "protective custody" in Athens. My mouth dropped when they told me where we would be going. Dillon attempted to explain it to me, but it didn't really make any sense whatsoever.

"Welcome," a woman they told me was named Lady Arabella said as mom and I landed in Athens with Matt and Neriah. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed that Dillon wasn't one of my guards.

Lady Arabella gave me a hug and turned to my mom, who wan so upset and depressed, that she didn't really notice our new surroundings. After we dropped our luggage off in our rooms, she gave me the grand tour. It was fun seeing all the statues and the ancient art.

I knew that I would like this place.

Ethan

"There's something that's been bothering me," Isabel said while Matt and Neriah were taking Lilyana to Athens.

"What's that?" Arkarian asked.

"I had that vision of those demons attacking the school. Only they never did."

"Yeah," I said, remembering. "Why is that?"

"Well," Arkarian began, "I think that Lilyana's arrival in Angel Falls threw the Order's plans off. It's good you guys got to her when you did, otherwise, Lilyana might be in the their hands right now. In fact, I'm positive she would be."

"So unexpected events like this can change the outcome of my visions? Like when I saw Mrs. Roberts... take her life in one of my visions. It didn't come true." Thank god for that, I thought.

"Correct," Arkarian answered.

When Lilyana and her mom were safely in Athens, and everyone had returned from their various duties, Arkarian cleared his throat. "I've decided to check out the Duke of Drakeland, Raul Albait, and noticed that there has been some discrepensies in that time."

"In other words, mission time," I said.

Arkarian, Isabel, Jimmy, and I were to go on the mission tonight and dad was to monitor the sphere. I went to bed as usual and awoke in the Citadel. Arkarian and Isabel were there when I arrived. It was at least an hour before Jimmy showed up.

"Sorry guys," he said apologetically. "I had trouble falling asleep."

We all changed our outfits and appearances and took the memory dust. Arkarian was to lead this mission, him posing as the Earl of Ballenrose, Isabel as his wife, me as his younger brother, and Jimmy as his manservant.

We landed in only what can be described as a huge pile of sh—mud. We were ankle deep in it and smelled pretty bad too.

"Sorry," Arkarian said in his usual manner, though he did look apologetic after I glared at him. So far there had been a lot of apologies on this mission...

"That's alright," Isabel said. It was strange; on any other occasion, she'd be cursing him. Despite being outdoorsy, she didn't like landing in poo any more than the rest of us.

Cleaning up a bit, we arrived at the castle. "Who goes there?" a guard dressed in silver armor asked us as we approached.

"We are here to see the Duke," Arkarian stated in a clear voice. "I am the Earl of Ballenrose. I believe we are expected."

"Yes sir, I have been informed of your arrival," the guard said, lowering the draw bridge and letting us inside. He led us to a large entrance room.

A moment later, Raul Albait entered the room. He was dressed in a fine leather tunic, and had light brown hair and piercing black eyes. "It is so good to finally meet you," he said, clasping arms with Arkarian. He did the same to me, overlooking Jimmy completely, and turned finally to Isabel. "It is exquisite to make your acquaintance, m'lady." Isabel curtsied and Raul kissed her hand.

We were shown to our rooms so we could clean up some before dinner. To explain our lack of luggage, we told them we had gotten lost and had to leave what we had behind. Being a married couple, Arkarian and Isabel were to share a room. (If Matt knew, I know he would not be pleased.) I was given a room right next to theirs and Jimmy was going to bunk with me.

We had dinner with Raul and his young wife, Mary Kile (who was considerably younger than me.)

Mary Kile was a very unhappy-looking girl, brown eyes filled with sadness. She was a tragic sort of beauty, the kind most guys flocked to, often making the sad nature of the individual worse.

There were two other guests, the Earl of Devenshire and his wife, and several servants running about. I was sure that one (or two) of these people belonged to the Order. I was careful, however, to mask my thoughts in case any of these were truthseers like Arkarian, who was currently engaged in conversation with Raul. I appeared to be interested in what they said, tossing a comment in every now and then, but was watchful, studying to find out who was with the Order and who wasn't.

"Raul!" a woman with gold hair said, storming into the dining hall. She was wearing a dress that had once been expensive but was now covered in grim. It was obviously a present to his mistress once. In her arms was an infant baby.

Raul looked up in mock-horror, angering the woman more so. "Raul, I demand that you pay for this child. You fathered it!"

He simply smirked. "Nonsense, Lydia. You cannot prove that baby is mine. You were paying many favors to the lords at court. In cannot possibly be mine."

"You know that I hadn't been touched by any man the first time you touched me!" The woman's face was quickly turning red and the baby had started crying.

"Raul," a voice said, this time coming from Mary Kile. It was the first time she had spoken all evening. "Raul, just pay the woman some gold and let her leave. It is your baby and you know it."

The perpetual smirk left his face and he sighed dramatically. "Alright, Mary," he said. A moment later, a small purse of gold was brought to the woman, who promptly left afterwards.

"I'm so sorry about that," Raul said.

The dinner had turned sour and we all went to bed shortly afterwards.

Wrenching me out of a cold sweat was a malicious voice that I recognized all too well. Standing there, with a long silver blade pressed to my throat, was none Carter.

**Author's Notes. Just a little bit of a cliffhanger.**


	24. 23: Ethan

Chapter 23: Ethan 

"Marcus, what are you doing?" Jimmy asked, springing up from his bed. "He's just a boy."

"We're not on the same side any longer, James. And this filth in not just a boy, he's a conniving little demon who destroyed my brother."

"Leave him alone, Marcus, please," Jimmy pleaded, walking slowly to where Carter stood with the blade to my throat.

"Oh shut up!" Carter growled.

It was getting hard to breath with a knife so close to my throat; I was having a hard time not panicking, especially after I felt a trickle of blood run down to my collarbone.

Jimmy met my eyes, indicating that he was going to jump on Carter and wrestle him for the knife. When Jimmy jumped, Carter's arm jerked back and I rolled off the bed, sprang to my feet and conjured up a baseball bat. I couldn't swing until I had an open shot at Carter, though, for fear of hitting Jimmy.

Jimmy grabbed the wrist of the hand that contained the knife and proceeded to squeeze until Carter dropped it. He didn't. I tried to pry the knife from Carter with my mind, but it didn't work. I tried implanting a vision in him mind but that didn't work either; Carter's hatred was just too strong. My instinct told me that this was going to end badly. Little did I know just how badly.

Somehow Carter tapped into a source of reserve strength, wrenching his arm from Jimmy and stabbing the blade deep into his chest.

"Isabel!" I screamed.

Isabel 

"Do you hear that?" I asked Arkarian, projecting the thoughts into his head. A deep wheezing sound was coming from the corner, someone breathing.

He nodded. The room was so dark that this was only perceptible to me. I grasped Arkarian's hand and pulled him on top of me. He appeared stunned. "A diversion." I thought, sending it to him once again. He kissed me deeply, showing me that he understood.

As I wagered, the cause of the breathing grew closer to us until I could see the man standing over us with a knife. As he raised it to strike, I slipped my dagger from my pocket and threw it. My aim was dead on, hitting the intended right in the wrist. He dropped the knife, letting it fall silently to the floor.

Arkarian jumped off me and grabbed the man by the throat. "No tricks, or we'll let you bleed to death."

I scooped the fallen knife from the floor. The man nodded. Stepping closer, I saw that it was the ancient wizard, Keziah. I couldn't understand why he wasn't disguised. "No spells either. If anything happens, I will let you bleed to death."

Again, he nodded.

"So why are you here in this time period?" Arkarian asked.

"Marduke doesn't know you're here, does he?" I asked.

"He does not," Keziah said in a strained voice, watching the blood drip from his wrist. Arkarian noticed and pulled the dagger from Keziah's wrist so he couldn't use it against us.

"Talk, you're losing blood quickly," I warned him. "What business do you have with Raul Albait?"

"Raul Albait," he said venomously, "is my father and I am here to kill him."

I knew Keziah was old, but this is ridiculous, I thought.

"You are that woman Lydia's baby," Arkarian stated. Keziah nodded. "Why would you want to kill your own father?"

"You ask why I would want to kill my own father! You saw the way he denied me! He did it for his entire life, until he rotted away in a French dungeon. I'm here to see that he dies now, long before he has time to wreak more havoc on this precious planet."

Right, I thought, and being a part of the Order of Chaos doesn't wreak havoc on this precious planet. I was careful to screen my thoughts, though, since Keziah was probably a truthseer.

"Why aren't you in disguise?" Arkarian asked him.

"We can no longer use the Citadel because it has been screened from the Order completely. I've been using spells to transport us to the past."

"And who's _us_?" I asked.

"One of your very own. Well, he used to be anyway."

"Carter," Arkarian said, pressing the dagger to Keziah's throat.

"Correct, it is Carter. He's busy with your friends right now."

Oh no, I thought, Ethan and Jimmy. But then again, the two of them can hold their own.

"Why are you killing off the Legacy family line?" Arkarian asked.

"The Legacy's are an ancient family line. I'm surprised you haven't guessed, with the reason I'm here and all. The name Legacy stems from Mary Kile's son, who took the name when he became the Duke of Drakeland. They are the legitimate sons and daughters of Raul Albait."

"Lilyana," I said softly.

"Yes, Lilyana is the next on my list of those who need to eliminated. It'd been particularly difficult tracking her down. I came here instead, to kill Albait and abolish the line altogether."

A body suddenly appeared right next to where Keziah and Arkarian stood. It was none other than Raul Albait.

"That's not likely to happen," Raul said, pulling his sword from the hilt and plunging it deep into Keziah's chest.

Ethan 

"Isabel!" I yelled again as Carter stabbed Jimmy in the chest several more times.

I did the only thing I could think of at the time; I picked up the fire poker with my mind and sent it flying into Carter's stomach.

He howled in agony, ripping the poker from his stomach, throwing it to the floor. "I'll see you soon, Roberts," he threatened and was gone.

"Damn you Carter!" I said, flinging the poker to where Carter stood only a second before.

Remembering Jimmy, I rushed to his side. Blood pored from his chest and, when he tried to talk, his mouth.

"Isabel!"

But before Isabel could show up, Jimmy's eyes closed.

**Author's notes:** I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please, please, please review. i'll be updating promptly.


	25. 24: Isabel

**Author's Notes: Update...**

Chapter 24: Isabel

Keziah was dead instantly. Arkarian laid his body on the floor, rounding on Raul. "How did you do that?" he asked the Duke.

"I have my wings, of course," Raul began. "Member of the Guardians of Time. As are the two of you."

"How do you know?" I asked him. He wiped the blood from his sword with a cloth he withdrew from his pocket.

"I saw it happen," he replied simply.

"You saw it."

"Yes, I have the power of premonition. I saw this piece of Order filth stab you, m'dear, right through the heart."

Finally, someone else with the ability to see the future, past and present.

"But he's your son," I said lamely.

"I saw how corrupted he would turn out the moment he was concieved. Why do you think I denied him. No son of mine can be a part of the Order, not while I'm still alive. I really would love to chat with future Guard members, but I was specifically given a vision of great importance that I'm supposed to pass along to you. I have the location to Pandora's Box."

Ethan

I ran to the next room, which belonged to Arkarian and Isabel. Isabel said something that sounded like: "In Egypt?" as I flung the door open.

"Isabel, Jimmy needs you!"

Isabel, Arkarian, and for some reason, Raul, followed me to my bedroom. Isabel rushed to his side and felt for a pulse. Shaking her head with glistening eyes, she said softly, "He's gone."

"No!" Arkarian and I yelled at the same time.

We sat in silence for ten minutes before Raul spoke. "I'm truly sorry about your friend. I do hope things turn out for you and your search for Pandora's Box. I have to get back, however, I have mission tonight. Good-bye and good luck," he said, vanishing.

Under ordinary circumstances, I would have wondered just what the hell he was talking

about but right now, it didn't really matter.

"We should get back," Arkarian said in a choked voice. I grabbed Jimmy's arm tightly, refusing to leave him here, and yelled, "Dad!"

We shifted back to the Citadel and found Lord Penbarin waiting for us, Matt in tow. "What happened?" he asked, eyeing Jimmy's limp body.

"Carter killed him," I said dryly, anger raging through my body, making my blood boil.

"WHAT?!" Matt yelled. "I thought Carter was trapped in the Underworld."

"Marduke must have gotten him," Arkarian said, always the rational one. I couldn't even think straight right now. The room filled with silence. Turning towards Isabel and me, Arkarian said, "You two go home."

Isabel was clearly in shock, not even protesting like she normally would. Nothing was normal anymore, it never had been.

An emergency meeting was called the next morning. Everyone was somber and silent, the room filled with a thick but sad tension. We were to bury Jimmy the same day, next to Lorian's tomb. In order to lessen the burden of having to explain Jimmy's death to Isabel and Matt's mom, it was decided that we would modify her memory so she wouldn't remember Jimmy at all. Clearing out all his belongings while she was out shopping, it was as if Jimmy had never existed at all.

I held Rochelle's hand during the service. Glancing over at her, I saw that she was crying. I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her. The dam of tears broke then, flooding from my eyes.

We all took turns telling stories and sharing our memories of Jimmy. By then, I don't think there was a dry eye in sight. All of the Named and lords and ladies showed up. Looking over at Lady Arabella, I saw that she looked awful; pale and not nearly her usual collected self. I didn't think it had much to do with Jimmy's death, though. No that she wasn't sad about Jimmy's death. It's just not the same as losing your soul mate.

After we laid Jimmy to rest, we all traveled back to Athens for a dinner in his honor. Only, things weren't quite right when we arrived.

Waiting for us was Marduke and a whole army.

Lilyana

I have to admit, I was completely scared when we arrived in Athens to find a whold bunch of bad guys. Especially the man with only half a face with a distincly animalistic look about him. Dillon told me that this was the guy that had killed Ethan's sister and that it was Ethan's dad, Shaun who had cut his face off. Apparantly, Ethan had killed him once as well. The crazy looking guy was also Alessia and Neriah's dad. And I thought my family was twisted.

A half minute later, everyone was fighting with eachother. A kid, no older than me, came running at me, a huge ball of glowing _something_ in his hand. I tensed up when he threw it at me.

The strangest thing happened then. The energy ball didn't hurt me like I thought it would. Instead, it was as if my body_ absorbed _the energy. I could feel it tingling inside me, right down to my toes, much the same way as when I see Dillon.

Something inside me told me I could control the energy. So I did. I gathered it, redirecting it to my palms. My eyes widened , surprised that it actually worked. I drew my arm back and hurled it back at the boy. He fell to the ground.

Dillon's eyes widened too as he rushed over to me. "You have powers?"

"I-I guess I do," I stuttered.

"That's great, but we have to leave," he said, pulling me along side him. "Matt ordered a retreat."

I nodded, running fast along side him. We continued running to a huge _rip_ (there's nothing else I can call it), which I assumed was a portal opened by Matt. From what I understood, Immortals could do that sort of thing.

Dillon and I jumped through together, landing in what seemed to be an ancient city. "This is Veridian," he said as I looked around. He was still holding my hand and it felt really, really nice.

Only a few members of the Order managed to jump through with during out escape. Arkarian and Matt quickly caught them and tied them up.

I had a feeling we were in for a long night.

_Please review!!!!!!!!!_


	26. 25: Gabriol

**_new chappie!! enjoy!! 3_**

Chapter 25: Gabriol

After we arrived in Veridian and the prisoners were thoroughly questioned, revealing very little, we sat down to discuss the next course of action.

"We have to go after the box," Isabel said simply. "We have to get it before Markduke does."

"True," Alessia began. "We know what country the box is in, but where exactly is it? Egypt is a big country. It also depends on _when_ the box was put in Egypt. If we go back in the past, we have no way of knowing if it's there yet. If we go in present day Egypt, how do we know if the box is still there?"

"Alessia brings up good points," Arkarian said. "We also have to worry about where the lords and ladies will stay. Athens is infiltrated and we must protect them at all costs."

A huge grin spread across Ethan's face. At first I thought he was going mad, smiling at a time like this. "Why can't they stay here in Veridian?"

"In case you've forgotten, the Order has been here," Matt said. "They know the location and how to get inside."

"Yes, but they can't get to it if they can's _see_ it, can they?"

"Of course!" Matt said, looking at me. Everyone else did too, all wearing equally idiotic grins. I was obviously out of the loop.

"What?" I asked.

"Gabriol, you can turn things invisible," Dillon said.

"I can turn _myself_ invisible," I reminded them.

"Have you ever tried turning anything else invisible?" Alessia asked me.

"Well, no, but-"

"Try," she encouraged, taking my hand and smiling at me. How could I resist a smile like that?

"I wouldn't know how to go about it," I said honestly.

"It's probably like when you change yourself. Instead, just focus on turning me invisible," she volunteered.

I squeezed her hands gently and closed my eyes, concentrating on making Alessia invisible. I opened my eyes only when I heard someone behind me gasp. I could still feel Alessia's hands in mine, yet... she wasn't there.

"When you become invisible, do you have to constantly think about staying invisible?" Arkarian asked me.

I shook my head. "No, I stayed invisible until I though about de-invisibilizing myself." I thought briefly about Alessia rematerializing and, a second later, she did.

"That felt so strange..."

Problem one solved. Making Veridian invisible took a little while longer and considerably more energy, but somehow, I managed. The entire city and all of its new residents were now invisible.

We met back in Arkarian's chambers to discuss our second problem: finding the when and the where to the mystery that was Pandora's Box.

It was Alessia that got the idea this time. "We could summon Isis."

"_Isis?_ As in the supreme goddess of Egypt Isis?" Dillon asked.

"Of course," Alessia said, a little indignant. "If anyone knows the whereabouts of Pandora's Box, it's her."

"She's a goddess?" Lilyana asked. "And she's dead?"

Alessia nodded. "Lathania killed her during her quest for world domination."

"How will we summon her?" Rochelle asked.

"Gabriol can already turn entire cities invisible _and_ talk to the dead," Dillon said sarcastically. "Who's to say he can't summon the dead too?"

Again, all eyes were on me. "Come on! I know I can't summon the dead."

"Don't be so sure," Matt said cryptically.

"What do you know?" I asked suspiciously.

"Just that ever since you became a god, your natural powers have increased," he said simply.

"Became a god?" I said faltering, looking helplessly at Alessia. She looked just as puzzled as I felt.

"I didn't tell you?" he asked sheepishly. "My dad made you a god after we discovered the contents of the new prophecy."

"_What?!"_ I said, standing up quickly.

"Yeah..."

I sat back down. My head was spinning. A god? I was a god? Alessia wrapped her arms around me. "Now we never have to be separated," she said.

"Well," Matt said, clapping his hands together. "We should probably retrieve the box as soon as possible. After you, Gab."

I glared at him. You can't just go spring something like that on a person and them expect them to be able to summon a dead goddess.

I stood up again, cleared my throat, and said, "I summon you Isis."

A huge blast erupted in the air in front of me. The smoke cleared, revealing a scantily clad, but very beautiful woman with black eyes heavily rimmed with kohl, gold skin glistening. Her hair was jet black, curly and down to her waist, a heavily jeweled tiara atop her head.

"Finally," Isis said dramatically, looking me up and down. I grew a little uncomfortable. She shot Alessia a look of disgust when she said, "We would like you to tell us the location of Pandora's Box."

"For a price," Isis said, taking a step towards me. I took a corresponding step backward. "Reunite me with my body and I'll tell you everything you want to know. But not until then."

"Your body," Alessia said blankly.

"You'll be in Egypt anyway...," Isis said before dematerializing.

"Reuniting _her_ with her body," Alessia said, "is definitely not a very good idea."

"I heard that!" a loud voice echoed through the chamber, chilling my spine and not in a good way.

**_hope you enjoyed it!! please review!! _**

**_3 webofdreams89_**


	27. 26: Alessia

Chapter 26: Alessia

"She never said where exactly her tomb was located," Isabel said during the elongated silence that followed Isis' abrupt departure. "How can we find her body if we don't know where to look?"

"I know where it is," I said rather reluctantly. It was one of the things I saw during my stint on Planet Doom. I couldn't help but feel disappointed, however. Isis had been one of my idols, and now, having actually met her, I felt a big let down. She was narcissistic, arrogant, and _way_ too interested in my fiancée. You couldn't really blame her for being attracted to him; Gabriol was one fine man. But come on! She saw us holding hands and she still tried to paw him. Right in front of me!

Gabriol held my hand tightly and cupped the side of my face with his free hand. "Don't worry, I have eyes for only you," he said. I smiled back, I couldn't help it, and felt my anger simmer just a little.

"You do?" Matt asked. "Is it one of the things you saw on the sphere?"

I nodded. "Yeah, her tomb is well hidden from the common eye for obvious reasons. She didn't want anyone breaking in or taking anything that belonged to her. She had the tomb ready for hundreds of years, but I bet she never thought she'd actually need it."

"Great, well let's get going then," Dillon said.

For the trip to Egypt, we decided to bring Isabel for her healing abilities and possibly to get a vision or two and Rochelle to help locate with her awesome one-touch know-all. Matt came because he is our leader, Ethan for his animation and telekinetic abilities, and Gabriol because he is the only one that can summon the dead. And then there was me. I wasn't really sure why Matt elected me to go over someone else like Arkarian, but he did.

The rest, Shaun, Neriah, Dillon, Lilyana, and Arkarian were to stay behind. Shaun was to watch the sphere, paying close attention to any discrepancies that occurred in Egypt. Arkarian was to begin training Lilyana personally, including helping her discover her next power as soon as possible because she would be needed in the upcoming battles. Dillon and Neriah were to have a mission; traversing back to colonial America where Arkarian had discovered something wasn't quite right. Shaun would also be coordinating the mission, pulling double duty.

We transported easily enough to Egypt, landing in the fine-grained sand. Matt had thought it best to go to present-day Egypt so we actually all used out wings, with Isabel and Rochelle doing a 'tag-along' transportation.

"So where is this tomb?" Ethan asked, looking around and seeing nothing but sand in all directions. "Are we even in the right place?"

"We are," I said. "It's underground."

"How are we supposed to get underground?"

"Like this." I held my hand out above the sand, flexing my finger slightly, and said, "Clear a path."

In a huge circle, the sand began caving in, forming a huge hole in the ground about the sized of an infield of a baseball field. If you looked straight down, you could see the floor of the tomb, made completely of sand-colored blocks. I flicked my fingers again and the sand turned into a set of stairs, leading all the way down to the ground.

"Impressive," Ethan said with a grin.

I shrugged, leading the way down. I could see the _is it safe?_ expression on all the non-immortals faces. "It's perfectly safe," I said, already halfway down myself. They followed.

The tomb was nowhere near as elaborate as I thought it would be, consisting only of a single object in sight, the sarcophagus itself. I thought for sure Isis would have millions of dollars worth of gold lining the walls, the sarcophagus adorned with jewels from every continent.

"Very curious," Gabriol said, standing beside me. He, too, must have thought of Isis' apparent lack of vanity in her final resting-place. "I guess if Lathenia killed her suddenly, she wouldn't have had time to put together an expensive, flashy tomb."

"That's the thing," I said. "She did put together her own tomb."

"Well, there's nothing to do but find out," Matt said, lifting the lid off the sarcophagus. He looked at us all quickly. _"It's empty."_

We all rushed forward and, sure enough, it was empty. "What the hell?" Rochelle asked.

"You could try to fell around for a hidden lever or something," Ethan suggested.

Rochelle nodded, setting to her task. There wasn't really a lot of wall space to check out, the tomb only being about half the size of a basketball court. She reached the third wall and smiled. "Found it," she said, and pushed the lever.

A loud rumbling sound came from the sarcophagus. Turning, we could see it slowly lowering into the ground. We heard another thud, indicating that it had touched the next floor. I looked down and jumped.

"This is more how I expected her to forever remain," I said, taking in the literally thousands of gold things scattered about; tiaras, vases, coins, jewelry, goblets, and more. "Well, we should probably get this over with," I said to Gabriol as he joined me on tomb floor.

"Yeah, you're probably right." The others quickly joined us on the floor. We strode up to the solid gold sarcophagus encrusted with probably a hundred pearls. I wasn't exactly sure where she got so many pearls from, living in Egypt. "I summon you, Isis," he said in a clear voice.

"It didn't take you long," she said, appearing before us much the same way she did before. "You must really want to know the location of Pandora's Box. Now, just reunite me with my body and I'll tell you."

"And how do we accomplish that?" I asked her.

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "You're a goddess, are you not? You can just put me back."

I stepped toward the sarcophagus and was about to attempt to lift the surely heavy lid when Ethan stepped forward and said, "Allow me." He concentrated on the lid for just a moment before he had it lifted in the air, floating gently down to the ground. Looking inside, I saw that the body was completely mummified, the bandages old and rotten.

"Thanks," I said appreciatively. I wasn't exactly sure how to go about reuniting a dead goddess with her completely rotted body. Something nagged at my conscious, telling me that we shouldn't be doing this, that something was going to go _very_ wrong.

With lack of words, I said simply, "Reunite."

The spirit of Isis began spinning incredibly fast, whirling toward the body. With a loud crash, body and spirit collided. The mummy stood up, dust flying everywhere. It stretched a bit, then began tugging at the bandages wrapped around the body. Once that bandages were off, I could see how old and wrinkled the skin looked, everything sagging. The mummy groaned and in a flash, Isis stood before us, looking just like her ghost did. Except she wasn't transparent. She looked even more beautiful, I grudgingly had to admit.

"Well, that's a relief," she laughed. "I'M ALIVE!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She calmed down a little and looked at Matt. "You're the leader of this little gang, are you not?"

He more or less shrugged.

"Okay, the location to Pandora's Box is located in the tomb of the great Pharaoh Hatshepsut's daughter, Neferure. Hatshepsut was only the second female pharaoh to rule in Egypt, reining from 1479 to 1458 BC. She was raising her daughter to become the next female pharaoh, but she didn't live into adulthood. Hatshepsut, bereaved, decided to have her most valuable possession buried with her only child to live past infancy. And that valuable possession happened to be none other than Pandora's Box. Hatshepsut's father, Thutmose II had acquired it during his reign and passed it on to his daughter just before he died. Hatshepsut was always terrified of it and decided that it was best if no one was ever know of it. Neferure's tomb has never been discovered by humans," Isis said. She gave them the coordinates and promised them that the box had remained there, undisturbed, since it had been put there to begin with.

"Now," Isis said, taking a very dramatic step toward Gabriol. "We've both helped each other, but I think resurrecting someone has a lot more warrant than just giving out information. I really should do something to repay you."

With that, she grabbed Gabriol by the shoulders before he had a chance to back away, pulling him to her and kissing fully on the lips. He tried to push her away but didn't succeed because he forgot that she was a goddess and didn't want to hurt her. Fury flowed through my veins as I ran up to her and tore her off of Gabriol. She hit the wall of her tomb, landing clumsily in a pile of gold coins.

"You should not have crossed me!" she said, her face turning red with anger. She put one hand out in front of her and muttered something in Egyptian.

I gasped as I stood there, watching my body fall to the ground. Only the rest of me didn't go with it.

**_please r&r :_**


	28. 27: Alessia

**_A/N: new chapter! enjoy and please review!!_**

Chapter 27: Alessia

"_What the hell?" _I stammered as I looked down at my body. I just couldn't comprehend how one minute I was standing there and the next I was in two places at once, I think.

A very distinctive giggled resonated from behind me. I turned to find Sera, Ethan's older sister watching the scene unfold gleefully. "What's so funny?" I asked her.

"Well, it's not funny exactly. I mean, it can't be reversed. But there _are_ other ways to bring you back after all," she said vaguely.

"Bring me back? Why would someone need to bring me back?"

"Duh, you're dead! Soul departed from body means dead," she said rolling her eyes at me. If it weren't for the fact that she was forever ten years old, I probably would have screamed at her that now wasn't exactly the time for all this.

"I can't be dead though. I'm immortal," I pointed out.

Again she rolled her eyes. "But you were killed by another immortal."

"Right." Turning to the rest of the group, still not quite believing that I could be _dead,_ I said, "You'd probably better stop Isis before she turns evil and does something bad to us."

It was weird. They all just kept staring at the me lying in a heap on the ground, ignoring the me standing completely. I jumped up and down, waving my hands in Isabel's face. "Right here! I'm right here!" She appeared to look right through me, however, continuing to stare, quite stunned, at my body.

"Alessia," Gabriol said finally, actually looking at _me._ I stood still. "They can't see you." He appeared so pained to say this to me, as if it was the hardest thing he ever had to do.

"What do you mean they can't see me?" I felt numb all of a sudden, breaking out into a cold sweat. "You can see me," I said helplessly, knowing why before the words fell from my tongue.

"Oh well," Isis said, shrugging her shoulders. She, too, ignored me. "I seriously doubt she was that important to you guys anyway." She stepped towards Gabriol, grabbing his arm. Fury rose through me, more because someone else was touching my soul mate rather than having just been killed.

"There is a way," Sera said, stepping up to Isis and sticking her arm through Isis' stomach. Isis shuddered, letting go of Gabriol's arm. I smiled at Sera appreciatively.

"A way?" Gabriol asked.

"Who's he talking to?" Ethan asked Isabel. She shrugged, answering, "Probably a ghost."

"Of course, that's why they sent me here. To inform you that you should not have brought back a goddess. She wasn't meant to come back. Blah, blah, blah," Sera said in a mocking voice. "And that Alessia's body is dead, but there is another body that should not have been resurrected to begin with, available if you banish the spirit within."

"Isn't that murder?" I asked. "And why can't he just put me back in my body?"

"It's only murder if you take a life long before it's time. In this case, it's long _past_ time and not considered murder at all." She said it so matter-of-factly, completely assured that it was right. "And he can't put you back in your body because it's been tainted with magic. If you die by magic, you can't resurrect. Isis died by stabbing, therefor, she could come back. You died by magic so your body is no longer able to be resurrected."

"How do you know?"

"They told me and, before you ask, I'm not at liberty to disclose who they are. You'll find out when it's really your time to die. Fortunately, that time is not now."

"How do you get Isis' spirit out?" Gabriol asked. I looked at him quickly.

"You're actually considering this?" I asked.

"I'd do anything for you, Alessia," he said, taking a step toward me. He tried to reach for my hand but his own passed right though. That single act alone broke my heart. Being separated from Gabriol was not an option.

"He's definitely lost it," Rochelle murmured. "Alessia's taking a nap on the ground, not standing in front of him."

"Unless Alessia _isn't_ taking a nap," Ethan said. "And is dead and Gabriol is talking to her." Isabel gasped.

Matt, taking charge, put a power-bind on Isis. Since she was an immortal also it wasn't going to hold very long. The fact that it was holding at all was testimony to the fact that she was rusty at being a goddess. She tried hurling energy blasts at the force field, without success. When magic failed, she resorted to beating it with her fists, which was by far less effective.

"Alessia, if you don't want to do this, that's okay with me. But know this, I refuse to live without you. Either you rejoin the realm of the living, or I'll join you in the dead and we can move on together."

I knew there was no way that I could stand by and watch Gabriol kill himself, even if it meant we could be together again. I really had no choice. Turning to Sera, I asked, "Are you sure it's not murder?"

"Of course I'm sure," she snapped. "I think I of all people know what murder is." She took a deep ghost-breath and smiled. "I have to get back now, they're calling. Tell Ethan I said hi." With that, the ghost of Sera shimmered, slowly fading from view.

I took a deep ghost-breath myself. "Okay."

"That's great," he said, once again trying to touch me, failing as his hand passed right through my cheek. I couldn't feel a thing, but he shivered. Embarrassed, he pulled his hand away. "I'm not really sure what to do."

"Just order Isis' soul out and mine in. All the summoning seemed to be just ordering things to happen."

He nodded. "Matt, could you take down the force field? I have to bring Alessia back to life inside Isis' body because Alessia's body has been tainted by magic."

"Okay..." Matt said, not fully understanding, but obliging anyway. The force field tumbled down and Isis stepped forward. She looked exceedingly angry.

"I command your soul to leave your body, Isis," Gabriol said. Isis shrieked before her body fell in a heap right next to mine. "Alessia, I command your soul to enter Isis' body."

I could feel my soul being sucked into the body, filling it completely. I examined my new body. I was a bit shorter and less curvy and my skin was the color of liquid gold. My once blood-colored hair was now raven.

This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

**_remember to leave a review!!_**


End file.
